


Chikara's Reign

by dontoverthinkthis



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Kidnapping, Near Death Experiences, Nice Guys are garbage, Nice guy, Other, Seriously no matter what age you are nice guys are garbage trash, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:20:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontoverthinkthis/pseuds/dontoverthinkthis
Summary: Lila Langinstein is the teenaged niece of Irma Langinstein. She was the Turtles' first friend they met above ground and she loves them, and they love her. Somebody else loves Lila, too, only she doesn't have any feelings for him, but he's determined to make her his, at whatever price.Even if she doesn't want him.
Kudos: 4





	1. Character of Lila Langinstein

Character Description:

(Please note I cannot draw for shit, so use your picture minds kids!)

Lila Langinstein is the shortest and youngest member of the main cast (being slightly younger than Michelangelo at 15 years old). She is half-Indian and half-Jewish, her skin a darker color and pitch black hair with brown eyes. Lila’s hair falls just below her shoulders in a style reminiscent of the hime-cut. Her signature attire consists of a short-sleeved, tight black shirt, a short, grey plaid miniskirt, black and white sneakers, and black and white arm warmers. She is near-sighted and wears glasses until she switches to contact lenses due to her glasses often breaking.

Lila is a very sweet yet shy young girl with a love of books and history. Like Donatello, she is highly intelligent, though her knowledge mainly lies in history and facts. She adores April, seeing her as a big sister and April reciprocates her adoration wholeheartedly. Being the youngest, the entire group is protective over Lila, and merely threatening her is enough to draw violence out of the entire team. Lila is noted to be clumsy and ‘jumpy’ as she’s easily startled and hates sudden, loud noises. She’s very close to all of the turtles: she’s best friends with Donnie and Mikey (who also has a crush on her), and is protected by Leo and Raph. Her father Ralph is in prison, and her mother Sariya is a lawyer in India who left America years ago. Lila lives with her paternal aunt Irma, who is the president of a news company in New York City.


	2. One

“Great work today, Lila,” April grins gently at her only employee and friend as she flips the sign on the door to ‘closed’. “You work very hard.”

“Thank you, April, I love it here!” Lila smiles happily. April walks over and pats her hair, tucking strands of her loose hair behind her ear. 

“I’m glad. You staying for dinner? We could order Chinese food,” the older woman offers, and at the mention of food, Lila’s stomach growls and April laughs. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll go order, then, c’mon.” Lila smiles gratefully as April leads her upstairs to her apartment, where she watches the redhead pick up the phone and place the dinner order. 

While April orders, Lila takes a seat on the couch and thinks. She thinks of how kind the redheaded young woman is. She hired Lila despite the younger girl’s lack of a job history and her love of history and skill at math. “You’ll be my only employee, I’m afraid, but I can promise you easy, fun and decent paying work!” April said when she hired Lila. April’s a very kind person outside of being her boss and the two often hang out after work is over. She knew Lila’s mother left years ago and Lila’s father is in jail, and that Lila’s aunt Irma works many hours. So, she takes Lila some days after work by feeding and entertaining her yet never making Lila feel like she was a burden, but rather a wanted friend. Lila loves April, and April loves her back. 

Lila’s thoughts are broken by April’s weight sinking onto the other side of the couch. “Let’s check on the news,” she says, clicking on the tv, which is automatically set to the news channel. The news reports includes the weather, sports, and daily events, but those aren’t what the two are interested in. When the doorbell rings with their dinner (and nearly startling Lila out of her skin), the desired news report comes on the tv just as April finishes paying.

“Thank you,” Lilaa thanks her softly, “look!” Pointing at the screen, the two young women see a distinctive red mark. Foot Clan, they both think simultaneously. “Wait, I thought the Turtles defeated them?” Lila says in concern after swallowing a bite of noodles. 

“They did,” April replies, “but it looks like they’re returning.” the look on her face is grim and on instinct, Lila scoots closer to her. This snaps her out of her temporary gloom and she smiles gently at her young friend, drawing her in close with an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Lila, it’ll be alright. I know the Turtles and Casey will take care of any threat in this city, and us too. Even if they defeat the Turtles, I wouldn’t let them do a thing to you.” 

Lila smiles happily and cuddles closer to April. “Thank you, April, the same to you.” The two continue watching, and their momentary air of assurance and comfort fade away when the news reporter onscreen shares the news that there have been a string of recent kidnappings, and that the victims are under the age of 30 and healthy. Lila looks up and catches April’s concerned glance. “What’s that look, April?”

“It sounds like the Foot is abducting people,” April deducts, and Lila nods in agreement. “Why, though?”

Lila takes a bite of orange chicken. “Maybe it’s for some secret ninja army? The Turtles did defeat most, if not all of them,” she points out, and April nods.

“Smarty-pants, you’re probably right! But until the Foot makes a definite move, the only thing we can do is be safe and smart,” April says, and Lila makes a noise of agreement as the two finish their dinner. The second they finish the food, an odd screech comes from April’s window. Both women freeze before jumping to their feet. “Stay behind me,” April orders, shoving Lila behind her and reaching for a kitchen knife. The intruder manages to break the window lock, and April takes a step back, her hand firmly on Lila’s stomach as Lila clings to her arm. The knife is firmly raised in April’s other hand. 

The intruder slowly draws the window open as Lila’s grip on April’s arm and April’s grip on the knife tighten. A big, black boot with a blue-jean encased leg step into the apartment, and to the relief of both, a deep sigh is heard. A recognizable sigh. 

“Dang it, Casey, you scared us! I thought you were one of those Foot Ninja,” April scolds, putting the knife away. 

The tall man in question merely laughs and walks into the light, his vigilante attire on. “Sorry, ladies,” he apologizes half-sincerely, winking at Lila, making her giggle. The other half of him isn’t sincere, she can tell, since he smirks at April. “And how do you know I haven’t joined the Foot, undercover?” He approaches her as if he’s going to grab her. 

April retrieves her knife again and raises it. “You’re right, I don’t. Lila, avert your eyes!” She says only half-jokingly as she seemingly thrusts the knife at a suddenly afraid Casey.

“I’m kidding! Yeesh, you’re a touchy chick,” Casey says teasingly, raising his hands in surrender. “And I like touchy, a lot.” He waggles his eyebrows, making Lila smile sympathetically at a groaning April. Lila catches sight of the time. Almost 10pm. Aunt Irma is a worrywart, so she better start getting home.

“I have to start going home now,” she says, picking up her backpack and putting it on. “Thank you for dinner, April. Try not to stab Casey, okay? Casey, try not to let her stab you.” 

“Will you be alright walking home on your own? Do you want me to call you a cab?” April offers, concerned for her young friend’s safety at night. Lila smiles at her. 

“Don’t worry, April, I’ve lived here all my life, and I know my way around. Besides, this is the city that never sleeps, right? And I have school tomorrow. I still have a little bit until I’m graduated and I can fully fight crime with the rest of you.” Lila’s in her senior year of high school despite being only 15, due to her high intelligence. She’s skipped multiple grades, and even considered dropping out, but higher education requires high school graduation and she wants to be of as much help to her friends and her city as possible, and that means using what she’s got. 

April still looks hesitant, but nods. “Alright. You be careful, okay? I can’t have my favorite employee snatched off the streets,” she winks and Lila giggles at her joke.

“I’m your only employee, April, but I’ll be fine,” she assures her, opening the front door. “Goodnight, April. See you later. Bye for now, Casey.” She waves good-bye to her two friends.

“Night Lila,” Casey calls after her. “Stay safe and cool.”

“Same to you!” Lila shuts the door behind her and walks down the stairs, coming out of the side door. She doesn’t live very far away, and begins her walk. Though New York City is busy and bustling at any time of day, she takes the less ‘scenic’ routes to get home to avoid attention to herself and keep safe, as well as for another reason. Two minutes in, she hears a very familiar cry of “COWABUNGA!” A grin crosses her face as she looks up. Part of the other reason falls from the air and onto the concrete in front of her.

“Hey Lila!” Michelangelo, or Mikey as she and the rest of her friends know him as, grins widely at her. He looks very excited, as he usually does when he’s out at night. Being cooped up in a sewer lair all day is no fun, especially for someone like Mikey. “Great to see you!”

“Hello, Mikey! It’s good to see you, too.” Lila glances around and frowns slightly. “Where are your brothers? Isn’t a bit early for your patrol to start?” The Turtles’ patrol typically begins around midnight, not 10pm. 

Mikey’s grin doesn’t falter and it turns slightly mischievous. “You saw the news earlier, right? Seems like the Foot is asking for another butt-kicking!” He laughs. 

Lila giggles. “Maybe they just can’t get enough of you,” she teases, brushing some dust off her friend’s shoulders. 

“Believe me, I’ve considered that possibility, and according to Donnie’s theories, that’s very likely,” he winks at her and she laughs.

“That doesn’t sound like something Donnie would say,” she says, shaking her head. 

“Oh, he said so, trust me, he’s my brother,” Mikey tells her with mock-seriousness, making her laugh harder. He looks around her. “You going home?”

“Yes, I have to, or Aunt Irma will call the cops on me for being late and report me missing. Besides, I have school in the morning.” Mikey rolls his eyes at the mention of school. “I know, Mikey, but I have to do it. A lot of the things I want to do in life require a high school education. But don’t worry, just a few more months and I’ll be done for a while, okay?” Her words seem to cheer Mikey up and he nods. 

“Well, if you’re on your way home, then would you like to take the scenic route?” Mikey throws his hand to the brightly glow of New York City. “With an equally scenic tour guide?” His other hand motions to himself, with a bright grin. Lila pauses momentarily to consider it, then nods with a big smile.

“Isn’t this considered slacking off, though?” she asks as she approaches Mikey as she takes off her glasses and puts them into her backpack, his arms outstretched. She’s done this with him before. Mikey easily scoops her into his arms as if she’s made of paper and shakes his head playfully. 

“Nah, I’m helping a civilian!” He laughs. 

“Even if it’s me? Somebody you know?” 

“Hey, you’re a civilian, right? Now hold on tight, Lila!” 

Lila’s not frightened of heights, but she can’t help letting out a loud gasp after Mikey’s first jump and presses her face into his shoulder. She quickly adjusts though, and lifts her face up to witness the blur of New York City. It’s all bright lights and rushing wind and her hair whips in all directions and Mikey’s laughing and she's laughing, too. This is a lot of fun, and unfortunately it ends too soon for Lila as she recognizes her apartment building.

“Attention, the Mikey Express has arrived at Lila Langinstein’s apartment! Please make sure to take all luggage and pick up all garbage before you depart! Thank you for riding the Mikey Express, and please come again!” Mikey laughs as he jumps onto the fire escape next to Lila’s floor. He gently places her on her feet, and lingers for a moment so she can balance properly and get feeling back into her limbs.

Lila’s smiling brightly and she laughs loudly. “That was so much fun! Thank you, Mikey,” she giggles, looking at her best friend.

“Hey, what’re besties for, bestie? Anytime! I love doing that! We need to make that a weekly thing or something, we don’t get to do it enough,” Mikey says happily. He watches Lila kneel to unlock her apartment window. “Are you sure you have to go to that school thing tomorrow?” 

Lila smiles gently at him, knowing her mutant turtle friend doesn’t understand why she has to attend school. “Yes, Mikey, I do. But it’s okay, it’s only until 2:45, and I spend the rest of the day with you, your brothers, April and Casey. Besides, there’s only a few months left until I’m out for a good while. You can manage that, can’t you?” At the end of her mini-spiel, she stands and places a hand on Mikey’s shoulder. 

Mikey looks briefly sad. “I guess...but I just wish we could hang, all day!” 

Lila giggles softly. “I’m sure you’d get tired of me if we did do that.” Mikey pops up and shakes his head vehemently.

“I could never, ever, on a million pizzas with extra pepperoni get sick of you!” This makes her giggle harder, and she leans on her tiptoes (cursing her 4’11 height) and gives him a light kiss on the cheek, making him turn bright red. This is usually how she thanks or sometimes greets her friends, but it never fails to make Mikey blush. 

Mikey has a crush on Lila. Scratch that. Mikey has a massive crush on Lila. Still scratch that. Let’s just say that in Mikey’s comic book, Turtle Titan, the titular hero’s love interest is Alli Lang, who, save for a few minor cosmetic differences, looks strongly like his real life best friend Lila Langstein. Nobody knows that Alli is based on Lila, but everyone is fully aware of Mikey’s crush on Lila. Except for, you know, Lila herself.

“That’s so sweet, Mikey. Thank you. And thanks again for the ride.” She climbs into her building, looking over her shoulder at him one last time for tonight with a smile. “Goodnight, see you tomorrow.” 

“Y-yeah...see ya, Lila.” Mikey hops away before Lila can shut the window and before she can hear that he’s nearly at a loss for words and is still blushing wildly. Lila giggles, and heads inside her apartment. 

In the newest issue of Turtle Titan, after heroically saving Alli Lang, she kisses Turtle Titan on the cheek for his good deed.


	3. Two

“Hey, Lila, some test today, huh?” Jeremy Hunter asks her at lunch. He’s Lila’s age, and like her, has skipped multiple grades, but he’s a junior rather than a senior. He’s taller than Lila (who isn’t, she’s thought in both times of sarcasm and sadness) and he has a gangly build, and he’s always slouching. He has pale skin, dark green eyes behind rectangular glasses, and shaggy blond hair. He’s also got a crush on Lila, which he shows on his sleeves. 

“What kind of test did you have before lunch, Jeremy?” Lila asks kindly, eating her lunch. “I had a chemistry test.”

“Chemistry stinks,” Jeremy says, pulling a face. 

“I don’t think so. I find it fascinating, though it’s hard.” 

“Oh, I-I was joking. Chemistry’s cool enough,” he says, changing his tune very quickly. “It is really hard, though.” His face brightens with an idea. “Hey! Since we both struggle with it, how about we study together after school? Two heads are better than one, right?” 

Lila sighs internally. She doesn’t feel the same way as Jeremy does towards her, but she doesn’t decide to tell him that. Instead, she says, “Sorry, Jeremy, but I have work after school.” Her lunch gone, she stands up to throw away the trash, but Jeremy jumps after her. 

“Oh, well, that’s okay,” he says, trying to hide his disappointment, but brightening with another idea. “Then how about we go to the arcade tomorrow? I’ll pick you up after work.” 

Lila suppresses a shudder. One of the last things she wants is for Jeremy to know where she works, and while Jeremy is a nice person to eat lunch with and talk to at school, she isn’t interested in doing anything with him after school. Her life is full enough. “I’m sorry, I’m busy, maybe next time, Jeremy.” She quickly walks away to avoid Jeremy’s look of deep disappointment and hurt, leaving him behind in the cafeteria. 

Luckily, school passes by quickly for Lila, and before she knows it, the bell is ringing and she’s practically running out of the front doors of the school and out onto the busy New York City sidewalks, dodging business-people and dog walkers and fellow students. She’s running so fast, she doesn’t notice Jeremy running after her until he runs out of breath chasing her, and loses her in the crowd of people.

Why’s she avoiding me? Jeremy thinks in dismay, reaching for his inhaler. Sighing deeply, he gives up pursuing Lila for the day and goes home, but promises to try harder tomorrow. It isn’t like she can go anywhere else during school, and he knows her class schedule. (It fell out of her backpack on the first day of their semester, and he picked it up for her. That’s how they met, and he just so happened to use his speed-reading skills to memorize her schedule. What? What kind of man wouldn’t chase every opportunity to have a beautiful, kind and smart woman, especially when you fall in love with her at first sight?)

*

“Hello!” Lila calls, opening the door to 2nd Time Around. 

“Hey Lila,” April smiles at her, “welcome back, just be care-”

Lila hears April’s warning, but unfortunately, her klutziness knows trouble. There are many new things that have arrived at the shop today, in boxes mostly but some stuff is scattered around freely. Lila twists her body halfway to acknowledge April’s words, but in not looking where she’s walking, she steps on a rolled-up rug and slips, falling backwards. A surprised half-cry escapes her throat and April gasps, stepping and reaching out to catch her.

“Gotcha!” A light voice says, and instead of falling onto the hardwood, Lila’s safely in a strong, muscular arm. She opens her eyes and sees she’s cradled protectively in the arm of Donatello. The purple-masked turtle has her halfway upright, her feet still touching the floor, his expression concerned. “Are you okay, Lila?” He gently pushes her fully back up to her feet. 

Lila smiles gratefully and leans on her tiptoes to kiss Donnie’s cheek. “Thanks to you, I am,” she says, giggling at Donnie’s blush as he lifts his hand to touch the cheek she kissed. “Thank you, Donnie, for not letting me fall flat on my butt.” 

Donnie chuckles softly. “No problem. How was school today?” Lila feels Donnie is her closest friend among the Turtles. Well, he and Mikey are on equal but different levels. He shows interest in virtually every aspect of Lila’s life, and she does with him too. He’s especially interested in her education, and enjoys hearing about school. 

“It was good. I had a chemistry test today. I brought homework and textbooks so we can do it together later if you’re up for it.” Lila can easily do her homework on her own, but Donnie enjoys helping and learning with her. He likes studying and all academic things, not to mention he’s the only person Lila’s ever known who actually likes doing homework. (It’s too easy for Lila to like.)

“That’d be great! I’m excited to see what we’ve got tonight!” Donnie grins brightly, fist-bumping Lila. 

“Only you are as excited as something as boring as homework as awesome as being a ninja, Donnie,” a deep, Brooklyn-accented voice interrupts. Raphael walks in, holding a box on his shoulder. “Hey, Lila, how you doin’?” He smiles at their young human friend.

“I’m good, thanks Raph,” Lila says, going up to him and kissing his cheek, making him blush too. “You good with that box? It seems heavy.” 

He waves her off. “Ah, don’t worry your pretty li’l head about me, this is nothin’. I’m not even breaking a sweat.” 

“I’m surprised you aren’t exhausted by all that bragging you do, Raph,” the voice of the oldest turtle comments as he steps into the room, carrying a couple of wrapped up, cylindrical objects on his shoulder and under his arm, walking to Lila’s other side. “Hey, Lila. Good to see you.”

“Hi, Leo. It’s good to see you too.” She kisses Leo’s cheek, too, and giggles when he blushes and Raph laughs at him. Before an argument can break out between the two eldest, she quickly asks, “Where’s Mikey? It’s unusually quiet.”

Leo laughs. “That’s true. He’s in the back, taking inventory.” 

“I’m going to see him then get to work myself, thanks Leo,” she says, walking off to the direction of the stockroom. “Be careful! No fighting! There are lots of easily breakable things in here!”

“Like Leo’s skull!” Raph calls gleefully.

“Not like that, Raph!” Lila passes Casey, also holding a heavy box. “Hey, Casey, glad to see you working,” she teases playfully, and he groans at her.

“C’mon, Lila, I work!” He calls after her.

“Sure you do, Case, it’s just you’re like a ninja, I rarely see you doing it!” She giggles at his groan of annoyance and opens the door to the stockroom, where she sees the hard shell and orange bandana tails of her turtle friend. An idea pops into her head and she grins to herself. She knows none of her friends, turtle or human, would ever hurt her, and she decides to take advantage of that. Suppressing her giggles, she sneaks up on him and runs halfway. “HEY MIKEY, LOOK OUT!” She cries, and jumps onto his back. He lets out a surprised, high pitched scream and grabs her forearms, and visibly relaxes in relief when he realizes who’s on his back. 

“Lila! You almost scared the pizza out of me!” He cries, and she laughs, sliding off his shell. 

“I’m sorry, Mikey, I couldn’t resist doing that,” she apologizes, kissing his cheek and making him melt in immediate forgiveness (not that he’s really angry with her for what she did, he just hopes nobody, especially his brothers, heard that girly scream). “Hey, think of it as training. I could’ve been an enemy!” 

Mikey nods, rubbing his head. “You’re good. I didn’t even hear you coming!”

Lila winks at him with a kind smile. “I have great teachers.” 

“Ahem.” The two of them turn to April, standing with a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face in the doorway. “Are you two quite finished? You could’ve broken my stock.” 

“Sorry, April,” they apologize in unison. Her smirk turns to a smile. 

“Just please be careful. Mikey, when you’re finished taking stock, bring it to the front. Lila, I need you at the front for pricing.”

“Got it, I’m coming, April.” Lila moves to follow her boss/friend, before turning back to wave at Mikey. “See you soon, Mikey.”

“See ya in a bit!” He waves cheerfully at his best friend, and secretly hopes nobody heard him scream because a girl who just so happens to be both his crush jumped onto his back in a moment of weakness for Mikey. (She’s just so cute.)

Lila follows April back to the now-empty store. “I’m sorry for jumping on Mikey, I know it was irresponsible, and I could’ve broken the stock,” she apologizes to the redhead once they get to the counter. 

April turns around and laughs a little. “Oh, don’t worry about stock. We’ve got plenty of it. No, I was worried that my Lila could’ve been hurt,” she smiles gently, leaning into kiss Lila’s forehead. Lila grins at her. “Now, take a seat, and have your snack. Mikey’ll bring the stock soon for you to price.” April gestures to the stool where Lila usually sits during work, and on the glass counter is a plate of delicious-smelling, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and a glass of cold milk. “Freshly baked by yours truly.” April winks at her.

“Thank you so much, April!” Lila grins cheerfully, and picks up a cookie. April’s a wonderful baker and she’s always making Lila after-school and start-of-work snacks. It’s one of the many reasons why Lila loves her. She’s always taking care of the young girl, somehow. Lila hopes to be able to pay her back in full, one day.

The day passes by peacefully. Lila prices and makes a few sales, April introduces customers to products and their histories, and the Turtles stay too, to help out or hang out. During her breaks, Lila and Donnie work on her homework and ponder over the textbooks from school. The store closes at 8pm, but unfortunately Lila can’t stay for dinner due to something her aunt needs to tell her. After helping April clean up and lock up shop, she bids all of her friends goodbye for the night (and refuses the Turtles’ offer to take her home, saying she needs to walk herself home every once in a while). 

*

“I’m home, Aunt Irma!” Lila calls as she steps into her apartment. 

“In the kitchen, cooking dinner!” Her aunt calls, and Lila smiles, going into the kitchen to greet her aunt. Irma is Lila’s paternal aunt, the older sister of Lila’s father. She’s in her early 40’s and the president of a news broadcasting company in New York City. When her brother went to prison and her sister-in-law left the country to pursue her own life, Irma stepped in to become the caretaker and guardian of her niece despite her busy life. The two have been a family for years, and love each other deeply.

“Hi, Aunt Irma. Would you like help?” Lila asks, giving her aunt a kiss on the cheek. 

Irma smiles lovingly at her niece through wisps of her hair coming out of her ponytail. “Yes, thank you. Could you set the table?”

“Sure thing.” Lila gets out plates, napkins, utensils and cups for two. She fills the cups with ice tea. “What are you making, Aunt Irma?”

“Matzah ball soup, my dear.”

“Oh, one of my favorites. I can’t wait!” The family of two sits down to a steaming dinner. “So, Aunt Irma, you wanted to tell me about something?”

“Ah, yes, dear, I did.” Aunt Irma sets her utensils down and takes a drink. “I have a business trip next week to New Orleans!” Irma’s always been fascinated by New Orleans. “I’m going to be filling in for an old friend of mine on the news!”

Irma grins at her aunt’s excitement. No doubt her aunt also sees her trip as an opportunity to find a romantic partner. “That’s wonderful, Aunt Irma! It’s rare to see you presenting nowadays! I wish I could go to New Orleans, too!”

“I wish you could go too, pudding.” A look of concern washes over Irma’s face. “I’m worried about you. I don’t know where you’ll go while I’m gone.” 

“I can stay in the apartment,” Lila offers. “

“I’m not fond of the idea, Lila.”

“Aunt Irma, it’s your call, but I would be perfectly fine by myself here. I’ve lived here all my life, and I know how to stay safe on my own. If you’re really concerned, I can ask my boss or my friends to let me stay with them, but I’m hesitant because they all work during the day.” (If you can call the Turtles’ training work.)

Aunt Irma bites her lip, considering her niece’s words. “...Alright. I’m still uncertain, but you’re very trustworthy,” she smiles a bit, taking her niece’s hand and patting it. “I will be gone for a week, and every day of the week, I will call, and if you do not answer, I will panic, alright?” Irma pat her aunt’s hand reassuringly.

“I’ll always answer, Aunt Irma. There’s no need to worry about me. I’m going to be fine.” Her aunt smiles back at her and the two finish the rest of their dinner. After dinner, the aunt and niece duo get up to clean, and Lila goes to the sink to clean off the plates. Looking for the lightswitch, she accidentally switches on the garbage disposal and jumps, accidentally making her glasses fall off. In her mad rush to catch them, her hand accidentally knocks them into the sink, and down the garbage disposal. Lila watches in dismay as her glasses are quickly ground into nothing but bits of glass and bent metal as she quickly flips off the garbage disposal. 

“Goodness, Lila, what was that?” Aunt Irma cries, rushing into the room just as her niece fishes what’s left of her glasses out of the garbage disposal, and helplessly holds them up for her aunt to see. Irma takes in her klutzy niece’s broken glasses and sighs heavily. “This is why I worry about you, dear.” 

For her part, Lila just smiles sheepishly.


	4. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy will do anything to win Lila. He means anything.

At the break of dawn the next morning, Irma leaves for her trip, writing her niece a loving note and leaves her with a kiss and a well-cooked breakfast, which Lila finds in the fridge. While she eats her breakfast, she reads her aunt’s note.

My Darling Lila,

I’ve left for my trip. I will be back in one week on the same day sometime late in the evening. I love you with all of my soul. Please stay safe, and do not hesitate to call for any reason. 

With Love,  
Aunt Irma. 

P.S. Check your nightstand for a surprise.

Intrigued, Lila finishes her breakfast and goes to her nightstand, where her outfit is set. On top of her outfit is a white, plastic case. She takes it and delicately opens it. Inside are two pairs of contact lenses, with appropriate cleaners, and she smiles brightly. She’s always wanted to try contacts. 

“I guess the optometrist got tired of replacing my glasses every time they broke. Which is a lot,” she says with an air of irony and a self-grimace. Picking up a lense, she opens her eye wide and places it in, blinking it in place, and repeating with her second eye. She adjusts it to almost immediately, and to her relief, it’s not as nearly as uncomfortable as some make it out to be. In fact, it feels rather nice, almost like the contact lenses aren’t there. 

*

“Lila? Is that you?” Jeremy feels like he’s seeing an angel. Which, considering who he’s looking at, it may be. Lila looks more beautiful than she usually does. She’s very attractive no matter the state she’s in (especially when she’s all sweaty after gym), but today, she looks amazing. Jeremy can see her eyes clearly without her (admittedly thin) glasses covering them. It exposes all her beauty in a way her glasses obscured them. She’s still very pretty with her glasses on, but wow, without her glasses, she’s even prettier. Lila smiles at him and as usual, it nearly knocks him out, but it’s even more of a knockout when she’s not wearing glasses. 

“It’s me, Jeremy. I just got contacts. I keep breaking my glasses on accident, and I think my aunt’s afraid I’m going to hurt myself one of these days.” Jeremy shudders at the thought of Lila accidentally cutting herself on her glasses. Cutting her pretty face or her perfect skin or her delicate little fingers, it makes him want to be sick.

“I don’t want you to get hurt either, Lil,” he says, stepping in front of her and taking her hand, to her surprise. “You wouldn’t get hurt half as much if you had me around.”

Lila giggles a bit. “I don’t know, Jeremy, I’m a massive klutz. How could you prevent that?” She pulls her hand out from his and walks forward, Jeremy going after her. 

“I’d catch you when you fell,” he begins on their way to their first classes, dramatically as if he’s reciting a piece of romantic literature. “I’d make sure there wasn’t anything to trip you up. I’d bandage all your cuts and ice all of your bruises.” Lila notices that Jeremy isn’t going to his first class, but to hers, and is following her to her internal dismay, and is still reciting his speech. 

“I’d protect you from the darkness,” Jeremy says passionately, cornering her against the doorway of her first class, and next to a locker. Lila sees she can’t escape because it’s her class and Jeremy’s lanky body is trapping her in. “I’d carry anything and everything you asked, so you wouldn’t be burdened. I’d hold your hand to prevent you from falling, except for falling in love.” Finishing his speech, he grabs Lila’s hand and looks into her eyes deeply. She hears the snickers and whispers of other students, who have heard his speech, and her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Um...wow, Jeremy, that was, uh, really nice,” she stammers in embarrassment and purposefully avoids Jeremy’s face, which is full of excitement. “But I-” To her immense relief, the bell rings, signalling the beginning of class. “I have to go. I’ll see you later, okay?” She frees her hand from his grasp and all but runs into her first class, leaving Jeremy standing by with a grin.

“She said it was really nice! And that she’d see me later!” Jeremy says excitedly to himself, ignoring the other students’ mockery of his impassioned speech. It isn’t for them. It’s for Lila. With a lovestruck expression, he walks to his first class.

*

“Did you hear about those mysterious four heroes last night?” A student asks her friends at lunch, which Lila overhears. 

“Yeah, I heard that they beat some of those ninjas! Turns out they were stealing from one of the city’s power plants! What are they called again?” Her friend responds. 

“I don’t know, something like the Hand or the Head or something,” another friend says. Lila conceals her smile as she grabs her lunch. She knows exactly what they’re talking about. Only her dear friends Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, defeating more of the Foot’s numbers. Which would prove Lila’s original theory correct if true. The Foot is forming a new fleet of ninjas through the recent kidnappings.

“Hey Lila!” Jeremy’s voice calls, and she sighs to herself. Jeremy is beginning to get on her nerves a bit. He’s a nice guy, but he simply won’t leave her alone, especially now that she has contacts. Which is foolish in her opinion, nothing else about her has changed at all. 

“Hello, Jeremy.” She walks to her usual lunch table, Jeremy on her heels as she slides onto a bench. 

“You hear about that mysterious four? Those so-called heroes beating up on those so-called ninjas?” Jeremy asks her, sliding opposite of her. 

Lila smiles at the mention of her friends. “Yeah, aren’t they great?” she sighs happily, eating her food, and perking Jeremy’s ears.

“Huh? Great? What makes them great?” he scoffs slightly.

Lots of things, she thinks, but she responds, “They’re helping keep our city safe. They seem to be on top of the latest threats, and I think they’re doing a wonderful job. Plus, they’re pretty cool. All of them are so unique but fight so well together, like a cohesive unit.” Her voice has a dreamy tone to it, Jeremy notes with jealousy.

“You sound like a big fan of them,” he bites out, but Lila’s too happy at the thought of her friends that she simply doesn’t notice Jeremy’s bitterness.

“I am! I support them wholeheartedly!” She grins, eating her food while Jeremy bites back acid. 

She gives her attention to four weirdos who fight like ninjas? He thinks in bitter jealousy. That’s ridiculous. Anybody could put on a mask and give themself a cool name and do flashy moves. An idea pops into his head, and he smirks. “I see. Well, excuse me, Lila, I have to go do something.” He gives her a smile and stands up. She seems surprised he’s leaving. 

“Oh, okay. See you then, Jeremy.” Secretly, Lila is relieved that he’s leaving. He usually lingers after her during lunch, and it’s nice he’s rushing off for once instead of vice versa. Now she can actually enjoy her lunch for once.

“See you later, dear Lila,” Jeremy smiles, walking away. I just have to find a way to complete my plan, then Lila will fall for me! All of her attention will be mine! She will be mine! 

*

After school, Jeremy watches Lila rush off to her job, and puts off following her for the day. No, instead, he goes to the library and studies the Ninja who fight with the mysterious four heroes that have Lila’s affections. He researches everything from newspapers and the internet to last night’s news. This mysterious clan of ninja seemingly strikes randomly, but Jeremy notes a pattern in their behavior: they attack places with lots of power or electricity, such as the power plant, and marking it as their territory. Judging by their takeover (as indicated by the blood-red footprint mark), they attack in a triangular pattern, or areas with a certain distance with multiples of three (three certain buildings away, 3rd to 6th street). 

And Jeremy knows just where they’ll strike next. He’ll be ready for them.

*  
The cold wind pricks the back of Jeremy’s neck, sending a shiver down his spine. He adjusts his coat to cover his neck and walks along the empty street. Oh, he knows this is a bad idea, but the way he sees it, there’s no other way to get Lila’s affections. She clearly has a type, and it’s the ‘ninja’, flashy type. So he goes forward, ignoring the fear in his gut, waiting for his targets.

And very soon, they show up. Just after midnight, there are flashes of black with bits of silver against the dark blue night sky. Jeremy can barely see them, but he does when they still. One is armed with a...paint palette? He watches the person paint the side of the wall of the nearby building with a familiar, blood-red footprint mark.

Bingo.

Jeremy slowly steps out of the shadows, and walks towards the figures. He tries to be as quiet as possible, but nothing prepares him for being thrown against the wall and a sword against his neck. 

“Who goes there?!” A sharp voice demands, and when he opens his eyes, he’s surrounded by people in black clothes concealing all of their bodies save for their eyes. He gulps but looks up.

“Take me to your leader,” he demands, “I wish to join you.”

The blade temporarily falters, before being brought back to his neck, but a silent discussion takes place between the group, and the blade is lowered. “Follow us,” a different, female voice says, “and be quick. Our master does not like to be disturbed.” Jeremy follows the female sounding one on foot. She’s quite fast, and he runs out of breath quickly. “What did I say, boy? Hurry up!” She snaps, and he follows her, panting all the while. It seemingly takes forever before they arrive at an innocent-looking building, but Jeremy knows that appearances can be deceiving. For example, nobody physically beautiful can be kind and caring, except for Lila. 

The one who brought him to this place looks over Jeremy’s panting form. “Pathetic. A little run tiring you out?” She taunts, and he glares at her. “I hope you have no use for your head, boy. Master Shredder will have it for bothering him with whatever your nonsense is.” She turns her back on him.

“Wait!” He calls after her, “you’re leaving?!”

“I need to complete the task, and I do not wish to be around for Master Shredder’s...fit of temper. He’s easily angered. Goodbye.” She seemingly vanishes, and Jeremy gulps.

Master...Shredder?! What kind of name is that for a person? He doesn’t ponder it further. He looks at the double doors and reaches for them, his hand shaking badly. He wills himself to calm down, and it works enough for him to push open the doors. 

The building is empty save for a long, red carpet, many candles, and a single man. Jeremy steps into the building and softly shuts the door, observing the man. His face is very hard and it makes him look very old, even though he’s not even above fifty. He has shoulder-length dark hair, and his eyes are shut. He’s sitting Indian style and is not moving an inch. Jeremy can’t even tell if he’s breathing or not.

“Who disturbs me in the middle of my meditation?” The man speaks, making Jeremy gasp and jump. His voice is both deep and raspy and booms all over the empty place.

“I-I do,” Jeremy speaks, “my name is Jeremy Hunter. Are you Master Shredder?” 

The man opens one dark eye to see him, before opening the other and glaring at Jeremy. “What is your business here, Jeremy Hunter? How have you found us?”

“I-I-I-”

“Speak clearly, boy.”

“I’m sorry, sir! I have found you through research. Your...organization likes to make your attacks look random, but they aren’t. They follow a pattern. I just followed that pattern.”

The man tips his chin inward. “I see. You’re the first to have noticed that. What is your business, Jeremy Hunter?”

It’s now or never, Jeremy thinks before straightening and looking the man in the eye. “I wish to join your organization.” 

This is clearly new for the man, who tips his chin up. “Beg your pardon?”

“I wish to join you, sir!” Jeremy says firmly. For several long moments, the man says nothing, only examining Jeremy with his eyes. 

“You are weak,” the man states, rising to his feet. “I can tell just by the sight of you. You would be dead if you fell the wrong way.” His stare grows into a fierce glare, and before Jeremy knows it, there’s a cold hand around his collar and he’s being lifted off the floor and held in the air. He kicks, but it’s useless, and the man is glaring daggers into him. “Do you mock me, boy?! Mock my Clan?! What is your true reason for appearing here?!”

“A girl!” Jeremy cries, terrified. “A girl I’m in love with!” He’s sure this is the end of him, and this will be the day that he dies. He shuts his eyes.

He’s utterly shocked when he’s lowered back onto the floor, but the hand remains on his collar. He dares to open his eyes and stare at the man, who’s still glaring, but...there’s no more hardness in his eyes. No, he looks...understanding.

“A girl,” he repeats, “that you harbor feelings for.” Jeremy nods frantically.

“Yes! She’s really special,” Jeremy says, “she’s beautiful and smart and so nice.” Talking about Lila calms his nerves a bit. 

The man considers Jeremy’s words, and lets go of his collar. “I see it now,” he says. “I understand. You remind me of myself at a much younger age. I forget I was weak when I was that age, too. And in love, the same as you.” The man looks at Jeremy, and smirks. “Jeremy Hunter. I am Shredder. I will help you win this girl’s heart.” 

Jeremy feels his excitement grow by the second. “Thank you! Thank you!” He pumps his fist. “Master Shredder, I notice that...you move extremely quickly. And there’s this odd aura about you. Do you have powers?”

Shredder’s smirk grows. “You are an observant boy. Yes, it is my ability.” 

“How did you do it, Master Shredder?” Jeremy asks. “I know I’m asking a lot, but I don’t have time for training. This girl, she likes those mysterious four heroes on the news, and I need to be super to win her over!”

At the mention of the four mystery heroes, Shredder’s face turns cold and hard, much like he was a few moments ago. “I know of these, ‘mystery heroes’, boy. They are rivals for this girl?” Jeremy nods quickly, and Shredder thinks deeply. “Very well. I know how to help you with instantaneous results. Follow me.” 

In excitement, Jeremy follows Shredder to a back room. It’s significantly colder than the fore room due to a lack of heat and light. Shredder reaches for a...tea kettle and begins a fire in the middle of the room. He sits Indian style again, and Jeremy copies him. He watches Shredder boil water and reach for oddly white leaves. He sets them in the water. Next, he takes a small, red crystal out of his robe pocket, and, using a log, crushes the crystal into powder and pours it into the water to boil. He removes a needle from his sleeve, and lightly pricks his index finger, letting tiny droplets of blood into the water (to the inner disgust of Jeremy). Finally, after a few minutes, he pours the now dusty-pink liquid into a cup, which he holds in front of Jeremy.

“Jeremy Hunter, this is Chikara tea,” Shredder explains. “It has very powerful capabilities. Very few people throughout history know how to make it. I am one of only two in the world today who knows how to make it.” He holds it firmly in front of Jeremy’s face and smirks at his questioning face. “I know what you’re thinking, but the ingredients are kept top-secret. You do not know these leaves, or this crystal,” his smirk grows, “and it’s impossible to draw my blood.” He holds out the tea for Jeremy to take. “If you drink this, you will get what you desire. However, you serve the Foot Clan from now on. Do you understand?”

Jeremy swallows. “I understand.” Anything to make Lila mine. Shredder smirks, and hands him the Chikara tea. It’s hot, but not unbearably so. He takes a sip. It tastes awful, but he slams it down his throat and wipes his chin.

Shredder’s smirk grows wider. “Welcome to the Foot Clan, Jeremy Hunter.”

An odd feeling courses through Jeremy’s veins, and he stands up, feeling more powerful by the second. “That name doesn’t fit anymore, Master,” he says, staring at his empty cup. His body glows, as do his eyes as he takes off his glasses with a smirk.

“Call me Chikara.”


	5. Four

Lila is thoroughly enjoying her new contact lenses. She no longer has to worry about her glasses slipping off or them getting smashed in her klutziness or adventures, and it’s like she never needed glasses in the first place. 

Apparently everyone else is enjoying her new contacts, too. She gets complimented by many today, including some people on the street. The fruit seller tells her she reminds him of his wife when they were younger, and gives her a free orange for the resemblance. She also gets a free flower from the flower seller, who tells her that “flowers were made for pretty young ladies”. Lila chalks it up to her newfound confidence in her appearance. She knows her worth as a person, and has never thought of herself as ugly, but she likes the freedom of her new contacts. Not that she ever minds her trusty old glasses, but it’s a nice change. She just never puts stock into her appearance outside of necessity and hygiene. Appearance means nothing, and it’s on the inside that counts. Her friendships with the Turtles and Splinter is proof of that wisdom.

Lila’s friends have nothing but positive things to say about her new contacts. Yesterday at work, April called her “adorably beautiful”. Mikey, after regaining his ability to speak clearly after stuttering for a few seconds, said she looked “like a total babe”. Raph grinned and said she looked like she was ready to “kick some major tail”, and Donnie expressed relief her glasses wouldn’t be in danger of smashing anymore and potentially hurting her. Leo echoed his younger brother’s words, and said she looked good. Casey’s compliment was her favorite, because he said she looked like a “knockout”. Then proceeded to call her short, which irritated her.

Speaking of admiration for her appearance, Jeremy didn’t show up to school today. He was swooning over her yesterday. While Lila’s relieved to be free of his near-smothering admiration, she can’t help but worry a bit. She hopes he’s alright.

*

“Today, oh, it was wonderful! It feels like home!” Aunt Irma chats happily to her niece as Lila cuts herself a piece of brownie that April made for her. It’s peanut butter fudge, and pure delicious. “I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed doing the reports on camera!”

“That’s awesome, Aunt Irma! I wish I could see you on screen again!” Part of the reason Irma took her presidential promotion behind the scenes was so she could take care of Lila, who was only a child when her father went to prison and her mother left. Now Irma can make her own hours, and she’s been slowly taking on more since Lila’s a teenager and has her own job and friends, but both make time for each other.

“Don’t worry, dear, I have it recorded! I’ll show you when I get home!” Irma promises her niece. “But enough about me! Tell me about your day! How was school? Work?”

“Both were great! Unfortunately most of my friends were busy.” The turtles’ day is apparently being taken up by monitoring the Foot and patrolling for them. “But April and I made lots of sales! I thought of you while I sold this beautiful tea set. It was beautiful. I wish I could have bought it for you.” Aunt Irma’s tea set is breaking from decades of use. She refuses to stop using it, though, and insists she wants to pass it onto Lila and her children one day. (Lila’s not even sure if the tea set will make her freshman year of college.)

“Hey you don’t need to worry about any tea set for me. The one we use is perfectly serviceable and will be for many years to come!”

“So I’ve heard,” Lila half-grimaces. She yawns and tries to hide it, but her aunt catches it.

“Is that a yawn I hear? My girl needs her rest now, doesn’t she?”

“Aunt Irma-”

“No, no, dear, don’t worry about me. It’s time for you to rest. I’m going to pick up a drink at the hotel restaurant and then head to bed myself. We will pick this up tomorrow, yes?”

Lila smiles. “Okay, Aunt Irma. We will. I miss you.”

“And I you, my darling. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Sweet dreams, my Lila.”

“Same to you, Aunt Irma.” Lila hangs up and yawns. Okay, she’s sleepier than she thinks she is. Heeding her aunt’s advice, she puts away her treats and prepares for bed. She brushes her teeth, puts on her pajamas (a tank top and cartoon-printed pajama pants) and takes out her contacts, placing them in their proper cleaning solutions so they will be fresh and clean for tomorrow morning. Yawning, she lies down and almost immediately falls asleep just as her clock ticks 11pm. 

*

An odd sound wakes Lila up, and she sleepily looks at her clock.

2:43am.

“I guess I’m just imagining things,” she says to herself, turning over to fall back to sleep. New York is the city that never sleeps.

Until she hears it again, stronger this time. And hears it again. And again. It slowly prods Lila out of her slumber, and reluctantly she decides to check it out. Climbing out of bed, her hand briefly lingers on the shell-phone Donnie gave her, and she briefly wonders if she should call the Turtles. Nah, I won’t. It’s a raccoon or something, and they’re probably exhausted or in the middle of something right now. 

Walking out into the main room of the apartment, she looks around and sees nothing, but something tells her to check the balcony. Crossing over, she carefully opens the glass doors and steps onto the balcony, her feet shivering in their socks. Though it’s spring, there’s a chill in the air, and her arms prickle with gooseflesh. Rubbing some warmth back into them, she steps out further and is nearly blinded by the New York City lights. She can’t help smiling and sighing dreamily. She loves her city, and she’s at her most beautiful at night. After lingering for a few moments, she turns around to go inside and get back to sleep.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

Lila screams in surprise and whirls around, gasping loudly, clutching at her heart. Her eyes widen at the sight of a person, standing on the bars of the balcony. This person is clad in blood red and white, with a pink sash around their hips. A mask conceals the upper half of the person’s face, leaving the lower half exposed. Light blonde hair and deep pink eyes.

“The city’s nice too,” the person says, jumping off the balcony bars, winking at her. “But the sight in front of me...wow.” The voice is deeper, and male. He steps closer to Lila, who takes a step back. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.” He grabs her hand and kisses it, causing her to freeze. “The name’s Chikara, my lady.”

“Chikara?” Lila repeats. 

“Yes, and I know everything about you so no introduction needed on your end. I bet you’re wondering why I’m here, and you don’t have to wonder or worry any longer! I’m your shadow of pure power and amazement, here to protect you from anything, including yourself.” He winks again. “A little birdie told me that you’re a klutz.” 

“What do you want?” Lila asks nervously. 

Chikara’s eyes gleam and he twirls Lila so she lands in his arms when she’s temporarily dizzy. “I was thinking I could take you around town, so we could get to know each other!” Ignoring her surprised face, he scoops her up bridal style and leaps off the balcony, making her scream and her heart race. “Isn’t this awesome?! You have your own guardian!”

“What are you doing?!” Lila screams in fear, clinging to him. Chikara can jump very high, and he’s leaping off buildings and landing hard on the ground or on buildings. She notices that the ground or concrete cracks under his feet. He’s reckless, and laughing all the while as he avoids the vehicles on the road. A motorcycle nearly plows into them, and cars honk at them loudly, hurting her ears. 

“Oh, oh, you’re right, you like the ninja types who save people, right? I can definitely do that!” Without warning, he suddenly drops Lila, and she’s crashing to the ground and screaming in terror as she sees her life is about to be cut short.

“CAUGHT YA!” Chikara laughs triumphantly as he catches Lila just as she’s about to become jelly. He jumps back into the air, not giving her time to adjust to what just happened. “That could have been terrible! It was lucky that I was here to save your life, right?”

“Are you crazy?!” Lila screams, unable to form sentences longer than four words at this time. Her heart is pounding as if it’s a hammer, and she’s clinging to Chikara for dear life which he enjoys immensely. 

She’s holding me tightly! Chikara thinks joyfully, jumping higher and higher and completely unaware that she’s holding him out of fear and not affection. I need to save her again! That way she will-

“BUILDING!” Lila screams, and Chikara looks up just in time to see he’s about to crash into a skyscraper. With no warning, he throws Lila into the air. 

Lila can’t remember when she was last terrified like this. Her heart pounds so hard it’s painful, her lungs and throat are starting to ache from all the screaming and she’s falling a very high distance to her death. All by one masked person she doesn’t even know. As she’s falling to the other side of the building, Chikara catches her again. 

“Whoa! Good catch! I mean, good catch on the building for you and good catch on you for me!” Chikara laughs, cradling Lila as she clings. “So, what were you saying?” 

“P-put me down, back on the ground, right now!” Lila demands in a shaky voice, and Chikara merely smirks.

“Your wish is my command, my lady,” he says, and he jumps back in the direction of Irma’s apartment. In the matter of a few minutes (but what feels like hours due to her fear), they’re back on Lila’s balcony. “Wasn’t that an adventure of a lifetime?” Chikara asks as he puts Lila down, and she sinks to her knees due to dizziness, fear and adrenaline. She’s shaking like a leaf, and she clings to the bars of the balcony rail, looking up at Chikara.

“It...it…” she can’t even form the words, and Chikara takes it as a sign of excitement. Well, she’s abnormally pale to be excited, but it’s probably from all the jumping. He kneels and takes her hand, pressing a finger to her lips.

“You don’t have to say anything, my lady. I know how you feel. Don’t worry, I’ll see you again, very soon,” he promises, kissing the back of her hand. He stands up and winks at her, before jumping over the balcony rails. Lila scrambles forward on her hands and knees, but Chikara is gone. She quickly gets to her feet and runs into the apartment, careful not to slam the glass door behind her, and runs into her bedroom, where she slams the door and sits against it, hugging her legs tightly. She’s shaking uncontrollably and can’t form words. Her heart won’t stop pounding, and she’s gasping for breath.

Who is this Chikara person? And how does he know who I am? Lila thinks as she tries to calm down from what just happened. After sitting on the floor for a few minutes and getting her heart back to a mostly-normal speed and her shakes down to a minimum, she slowly rises to her feet and crawls into her bed to fall asleep, but the adrenaline hasn’t worn off yet. She glances up at her clock.

It’s barely past 3am, and sleep looks like it won’t happen for the rest of the night.


	6. Five

Surprisingly, Lila was able to fall back to sleep after the events of last night, so she’s decently rested for the day ahead. The adrenaline wore off much more quickly than she expected it to. That doesn’t mean she’s recovered from what happened last night.

It’s pretty much the only thing on her mind today. She was briefly kidnapped by a masked man calling himself Chikara after he showed up at her apartment a quarter to 3am, and took her for a terrifying ride around New York City. Worse, he knows exactly who she is and where she lives. She briefly wonders if that means he’ll look for her friends, but she seems to be his only focus, so that’s a small, bitter blessing. He also promised to see her again, and that scares her. 

Does he intend to hurt me? Or my friends or my aunt? Lila thinks during her math class, normally one of her favorite classes. How does he know me? Have we met before? I’m pretty sure I’d recognize him if I did, but I don’t recognize him-”

“Miss Langinstein?” Lila gasps, broken out of her distractive thoughts by Mrs. Liesel. Mrs. Liesel is her favorite teacher, and she looks concerned about Lila. “Are you alright? I called on you twice, and you didn’t answer.”

“I-I-I’m sorry, ma’am,” Lila apologizes with a stutter that has yet to wear off. “I...I don’t feel very well today, I’m sorry. Would you please ask the question again?” Instead of asking again, Mrs. Liesel frowns and approaches Lila, putting her hand on the girl’s forehead. 

“You’re not warm, but you are rather pale and shaky. I think you need to go rest in the nurse’s office for a little bit,” she says kindly. Lila nods, and gets up, reaching for her backpack.

“Thank you, ma’am. I just don’t feel very well today, but nothing some rest can’t fix, right?” She gives her teacher a smile as she exits the classroom and heads for the nurse’s office. It may be fruitless for a nurse’s visit, because she’s beginning to feel better from just walking. She decides to just walk around a bit, as it’s nearly time for the last period of the day before school lets out, and some classes have already let out, and she hears the students talking amongst themselves.

“Did you hear that the mysterious four heroes fought off more of that ninja organization?” 

“I did! I hear the mystery four wiped the floor with them!”

“I wonder why those ninjas keep trying if they can’t beat only four people!” Lila smiles and shakes her head. Her friends are at it again. Though, she’s decided she won’t tell them what happened last night. They don’t need her problems on top of what they’re already facing, and she’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.

“Hey Lila!” She stiffens up in surprise when Jeremy’s hand lands on her shoulder. “Whoa, you okay? You look really pale! Did you do anything exciting last night?”

“I’m fine, Jeremy,” she sighs, trying to shake his hand off her shoulder, but he isn’t taking the hint. “And...you could say that, I guess. Just didn’t sleep very well last night.” She looks up at Jeremy, and to her surprise, he has big black sunglasses on indoors. “Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?”

“Oh, these?” He taps the rim of his shades with a confident smile. “They look cool.” 

“But school rules don’t allow for eyewear unless it’s medical.” 

“Oh, I was just kidding, Lily. I know. I got into a fight yesterday and I got a black eye from it. Don’t worry, Miss-Rule-Abider, I have a doctor’s note and everything.” He suddenly pulls her closer to him, making her gasp. “Say, Lila, you want to go to a party?”

Lila blinks. “A party?”

“Yes, a party! It’s just going to be a handful of people, and I can bring a plus one, so I choose you! It’s gonna be pretty awesome, there’s going to be a clown and cake and everything!” He attempts to get closer to her, but she breaks away.

“I’m sorry, Jeremy, but I have work today, as I do most days,” she says, emphasising how busy she is. “I don’t know when I’ll get time to hang out, I’m really busy. Maybe next time.” Thankfully, the bell rings to her rescue and she hurries off to her final class, leaving Jeremy in the dust. 

Jeremy stands there, open-mouthed, until he lightly punches himself in the forehead. “Stupid! You shouldn’t lie to her! She’s probably scared of clowns! No matter. I’ll be seeing her again really soon, so I can ask her properly if she’ll be my girlfriend.” He grins, remembering how much she loved his display of power last night (only, she didn’t, and was terrified for her life the whole time). Thanks to Master Shredder, the tea and the crash-course training, Jeremy-no, Chikara’s power has grown, only within a couple of days. 

The only problem is, Lila’s sort of a closed book. She doesn’t fall in love easily, but he knows how he’ll win her over. His transformation into Chikara is the first and most important step. The next step will involve hands-on work, like Master Shredder said.

“You need to immerse yourself completely in your goal, young Chikara,” Shredder said during a training session. “You may know this girl in the educational realm, but you need to immerse yourself completely in her. Become her shadow, unless it becomes absolutely necessary for you to break from her.” 

Solidifying his decision, he knows how to execute step two of his plan to win Lila’s heart. 

*

After school, Lila walks out, ready to go to her job. Only this time, Chikara is committed to following her all the way. (It counts as a fact-finding mission. Now he’ll know where she works.) 

Her route is mostly busy. She takes crowded crosswalks and shops, walking sidewalks filled with people of all ages and colors, as well as several animals. For his part, Chikara weaves in and out of the crowds, avoiding detection and suspicion. He looks like an average teenage boy and he’s counting on that to keep himself hidden. Luckily, Lila’s completely oblivious to his presence thanks to his ninja training. He smirks, remembering Master Shredder’s praise for his quick advance. Of course, it’s his natural flexibility, Master Shredder’s willingness to take him under his wing, and the tea helping him.

Lila takes a split off a busy path to a nearly-empty street, but Chikara, having anticipated her move, is waiting on a fire escape. Watching her pass by, he jumps off and follows her, pressing himself tightly to the building, and watches as she enters a place called 2nd Time Around.

“Reporting for duty, April!” he hears Lila giggle as he presses to the side of the building, and he smiles excitedly. So this is where she works! He takes a subtle peek in the window. The building is full of old-looking stuff, which he immediately recognizes at antiques. So she works at an antique shop. Taking a look at the door, he sees the shop’s hours and takes note of them so Lila won’t be working the next time he asks her out. 

“Hey, Lila!” A female voice greets her, and Chikara looks up and sees a redheaded woman wearing a yellow shirt and a nice smile. She’s pretty enough, but too old and not Lila-level pretty. Then again, nobody’s as pretty as Lila in Chikara’s humble opinion. “Your snack is waiting on the counter. Hey, are you alright? You look pale.”

“Oh, I’m fine, April,” Lila says. “I just...didn’t sleep very well last night.”

“A dream?”

“Haha...yeah, you could say that. A dream kept me up.” Her words fuel Chikara’s heart and he bites his knuckles in excitement. Last night was an exciting dream for her! I’m winning her over! He’s broken out of his thoughts by Lila saying “Hey, did you hear anything about the boys last night? Apparently they defeated that ninja clan again.” This is something Chikara’s gotta hear, and he looks up to see Lila and her boss-April, right?-talking about last night.

April chuckles. “I heard that. The ‘mystery four’ who took out the ninja. That sounds exciting.” 

Lila sighs somewhat dreamily (though it’s actually relieved), to Chikara’s jealousy. “I’m glad they’re out there, keeping New York City safe.” Chikara scoffs at her words. 'She believes that mystery four is protecting New York City? As if. I can do way better. But a whole city is too much and I just want to protect one person, her. Hmm...I’ll ask Master Shredder tonight. He’ll know something about that mystery four. He’ll tell me something about them, and maybe I can take care of them so Lila will stop admiring them, and she’ll give all her attention to me!' Chuckling smugly to himself and, satisfied with today’s ‘mission’ and believing this is a necessary reason for him to break away from Lila, he flees to the Foot Clan compound.


	7. Six

“Man, this is boring,” Mikey complains, twirling his nunchucks in boredom as he sits on the top of the truck. It’s been a dreadfully dull patrol tonight. For New York City crime, it’s been quiet. 

“I don’t know, Mikey, I’m kind of enjoying the quiet for once,” Donnie smiles at his younger brother, seated at his in-truck computer. “But it is quiet.” 

“It is,” Leo agrees, outside of the truck, examining one of his blades. “It’s quiet. Too quiet. It feels...different. Like something’s going to happen.” As a leader, Leo dislikes uncertainty, and he can’t rely upon gut instinct to act. No, that’s Raph and Mikey’s area.

“You think something’s up with those nin-jerks?” Raph asks, leaning on the doorway of the truck with his arms folded across his plastron. 

“I can’t say for sure, but something is definitely up,” Leo replies. As he’s finished speaking, an odd noise sounds, stilling all of the turtles. Leo lowers his blades, Donnie’s fingers cease their tapping on keys, and Mikey stops twirling his nunchuck, and they all listen. It’s the unmistakable sound of a footstep. And it sounds again. “In position, now everyone!” Leo says, and the team immediately gets into position, ready for action.

There is a new figure, one the Turtles don’t recognize. Clothed in crimson, white and pink, his dark pink eyes striking against his contrasting costume and his paleness. 

He tilts his chin at the Turtles. “So, you’re the Turtles,” he says. His voice is somewhat deep. 

Raph steps forward, sai poised to strike. “Yeah? And who’s asking, Crimson Mask?”

“Halloween called, it wants its costume back!” Mikey jeers in his usual fashion. 

The new guy smirks a bit. “I see. I heard one of you is a hothead and the other is a prankster.” His eyes gleam dangerously. “You won’t be for long.”

“What do you mean?” Leo asks with a glare, stepping ever-so-slightly forward, ready to defend and protect his younger brothers if necessary. 

“You can call me Chikara,” the guy replies. “I’m here to beat you.” With no warning, he strikes, first going for Mikey. “You talk too much. You need to learn the virtue of silence!” He punches Mikey’s throat, sending him doubling over as Chikara flings him aside.

“Mikey!” Raph shouts, rushing to his youngest brother’s defense. He briefly clashes his sai with Chikara’s brass knuckles, before Chikara grabs Raph’s wrist. 

“You’re a hothead,” Chikara grits out, restraining Raph, “you need to cool down!” He headbutts Raph, temporarily stunning him, and throws him into a nearby building. 

“Hang on, Raph!” Donnie calls, rushing Chikara and swinging his bo staff at his head, only for it to miss when Chikara grabs the end of it.

“I hear you’re the brains of the group,” Chikara taunts the purple-masked turtle, fighting for his bo staff back, “why don’t you use your head?!” He thrusts the bo staff back at Donnie, catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground. Chikara swings the staff at Donnie’s head, missing only when one of Leo’s swords catches it before it could make contact with his younger brother’s head. Leo lifts the other blade in his hand to swipe at Chikara, but he jumps, using Donnie’s staff to propel him upwards and land on Donnie’s plastron, making him gasp. He leaps, throwing the staff away and kicking Leo’s head, temporarily stunning him. 

“I hear you’re the leader of this group of freaks,” Chikara smirks nastily, “hardly effective are you?” He kicks Leo’s plastron, making him groan, and stands with one foot on him like a victory kill. “In any case, I don’t think you band of freaks will be able to...defend, at least for a little while.” While he’s making his villainous speech, Donnie retrieves his tossed-away bo staff and sneaks up on him. 

“Defend this!” Donnie cries, swinging at Chikara’s legs and sweeping him off his feet. Cursing under his breath, Chikara catches himself on his hands and springs back to his feet just as the Turtles get to their feet as well. 

Chikara weighs his options, realizing the Turtles recovered much more quickly than he expected, and decides to flee for now. He retrieves a smoke bomb from his belt and throws it. Leo and Raph rush after him, but he disappears quickly.

“He’s gone!” Leo exclaims.

“And too soon! When I get my hands on him-” Raph grits out, gripping his sai, but letting out a pained groan at his bruised head, much to Leo’s concern.

“Guys! Worry about that Chikara guy later! We need to get back to the lair!” Donnie calls out. He’s supporting Mikey, who’s holding his throat painfully. 

“Donnie’s right. We need to regroup and figure out a plan to bring down Chikara,” Leo agrees, sheathing his blades and putting a hand on Raph’s back, guiding him back to the truck. “Whoever he is.”

“What’s his deal with us, anyway?” Mikey asks, his voice a bit raspy, following it with a cough. “He knew who we were.”


	8. Seven

Aunt Irma is thoroughly enjoying her business trip, as she happily tells her niece. It’s day three of the trip, and today she reported on the crime and new happenings of New Orleans. The trip is nicely on track, and Lila’s very happy her aunt’s trip is going so well. The two miss each other, but Lila’s glad she’s happy. 

It’s getting close to bed, and Lilaa stands up to stretch, yawn and prepare her bed routine when the phone rings. She just got off the phone with Aunt Irma, and she wonders if she’s just calling to say I love you again. Nonetheless, she picks it back up. “Hello?”

“Lila?” It’s April, and she sounds worried.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Lila straightens up, immediately concerned.

“I’m fine, but the boys...they’re hurt?” 

“What?! Badly hurt?!” 

“No, no, they got in a bad scrape though. Leo just called me, and I was worried about you.”

“Are you all okay?”

“They’ll be fine. They called to update me on a dangerous person. He wears red and white and has these striking pink eyes. They said he calls himself Chikara.”

Lila’s blood runs cold and she almost drops the phone. “Chikara?” she repeats.

“Yeah. Sounds like a new enemy. Leo said that he seemingly knew them. Lila, can I come and get you? I’m worried he may try to attack you and the rest of us, and there’s safety in numbers, they say. Casey’s here.” 

Lila’s mind is racing, but she forces herself to be calm for the rest of the phone call. “No, I’ll be fine on my own. I’m really glad you’re not alone.”

“Are you sure? It’s no problem and I want you to be safe.” Despite the chills Lila feels, she can’t help smiling at April’s concern.

“Thank you, April. I want you all to be safe. Stay inside for the night and make sure the doors and windows are locked.” 

“I will do that. You too, okay, Lila? I’ll see you tomorrow. Come as early as you can, okay?”

“I will. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Lila hangs up and takes a couple of deep breaths. Chikara attacked the Turtles, and there’s a chance that he’ll attack April and Casey too. Worse, her friends are now hurt. Not badly, but hurt is enough. A knock sounds on the glass, and she whirls around. There, standing on the balcony with a grin, is Chikara, knocking on the glass and motioning for her to come outside. Part of her screams call the Turtles! but she remembers they’re hurt, and she doesn’t wish to add to that. The other part of her is scared as to what he’ll do if she doesn’t come outside, so she crosses over to the glass door and opens it, stepping out onto the balcony.

“Hello, beautiful,” Chikara smiles at her, a hand behind his back. He thrusts a bouquet of flowers at her chest, startling her. They’re pink roses, her favorites, and she reluctantly takes them as to not make him upset. 

“Thank you,” she says softly, “I’ll go put these in water-” she turns around to go inside and call April, but his arm shoots out and stops her.

“No, that can wait,” he says, taking the flowers and putting them on a nearby table, “I want to take you somewhere.”

“Now?” Lila glances at the stove clock. It’s just after 1am.

“Now,” Chikara nods, and without asking her permission, he scoops her up bridal style and leaps off the balcony. Lila screams in surprise and fear, clinging to Chikara, terrified he’s going to drop or throw her again under the guise of “saving her”. 

“Where are you taking me?!” She demands in a terrified scream. 

“You’ll see!” Chikara chuckles gleefully, cherishing that the higher he leapt, the tighter Lila clung to him. She’s shaking! She must be so excited! He’s completely ignorant to her fear, and she’s both relieved and scared when the leaping stops. Opening her eyes, she sees she’s been taken to the top of a massive building. The wind bites at her face and hair, making her shiver. “We have arrived.” Chikara sets her on her feet, and it takes all her strength not to collapse, though she sways, and Chikara grabs her arm to balance her. “Easy, my lady, come.” He guides her to a...picnic blanket? Spread around the blanket are tuna sandwiches, bottled water, and chocolate chip cookies. “I know it isn’t the fanciest fare, but it’s all Chikara-made,” Chikara says proudly, circling the blanket and setting Lila down to sit on her knees. He sits across from her.

“What’s...all this?” Lila asks once she’s regained her ability to speak after calming herself down as she gestures with a wide sweep of her arm to the blanket. 

“This is our first date,” Chikara replies proudly, much to Lila’s shock. 

“Our first date?” she repeats incredulously. “I wasn’t told about this.” 

Chikara grins at her. “It’s a surprise! See, I know what you want, Lila, and I’m happy to give it to you.” 

“You, you know what I want?” Lila repeats, curling into herself by bringing up her legs, knees to chest, and curling a fist above her heart, beginning to grow terrified. (Outside of being thrown like a ragdoll for some ‘life-saving’.) 

Chikara’s grin grows. “Yes! I know everything about you!” He crawls close to her, oblivious to her scooting away. “You love ninjas! You idolize them! You want to be swept off your feet by one of them!” He reaches and grabs her hand, making her gasp and try to pull away, but he holds her tightly. “Lila, I am all of that!” He kisses her hand, but she finally yanks it free and holds it close. 

Lila’s on the verge of panicking, but she controls herself. “Who are you?” she asks firmly. “You keep saying you know me, and you know everything about me, but I don’t know you or anything about you. Who are you under the mask?” 

Chikara’s grin softens into a smile. “Alright, you got me. It’s time you learn, anyhow. You’ll see everything eventually.” He reaches back and undoes his mask, letting it fall to the blanket.

Lila gasps loudly and shoots to her feet. “Jeremy?!” She can’t believe it. No way.

“The one and only!” Jeremy grins, standing up as well and grabbing her hand. “Isn’t this great?!”

Lila pulls her hand away. “No, no it isn’t great!” Jeremy isn’t deterred and takes her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

“This is so us! This is our first fight! It’s like we’ve been together forever! Not that we won’t be, of course,” Jeremy speaks, holding Lila close, not noticing she’s shut her eyes to keep back the tears of fear.

“Take me home,” she whispers.

“What?”

“Take me home, Jeremy, now,” Lila orders softly, pulling away. Seeing his upset face, she quickly says, “I’ll give you my answer there.” Jeremy or Chikara grins happily and nods, scooping her off the ground, abandoning the food, and leaping back home. Lila presses her face into her shoulder, keeping back the tears for now until she recognizes her balcony. Jeremy sets her on her feet, and she takes a deep breath, turning around to face him. He has a very hopeful, excited look on his face. “Jeremy-”

“Hold on. Let me speak first,” Jeremy cuts her off, putting a finger up. He takes both her hands and looks into her eyes. “Lila, ever since the day we first met, I have never been able to get you off my mind, and I’m always looking for you like a lion looks for its prey. I know, cheesy pick-up lines, but the heart of the matter is I’m in love with you.” 

Lila bites her lip and looks at the ground. “I know, Jeremy,” she says quietly, “I know you’re in love with me.” 

Jeremy blushes a bit, and chuckles. “I know, I’m a hopeless romantic. That’s why we balance each other out so well!” 

Lila can’t take it anymore, she breaks her hands free of Jeremy’s. “Jeremy, there is no ‘we’, there is no ‘us’, and there is no ‘balancing each other out’!” she cries, watching Jeremy’s face fall. She composes herself after the small outburst and looks him in the eye. “Jeremy, I don’t have any feelings for you like that.”

Jeremy’s eyes widen. “B-but, I’m a ninja now,” he explains feebly, “I have abilities. I’m a hero! I did this for you!” 

Lila sighs. “You’re a nice guy, Jeremy, but it still stands. I’m not interested in you.”

Jeremy feels his world shatter before him. The girl of his dreams, the one whom he made sacrifices for, and became a ninja-hero for, rejected him. She told him she’s not interested. He changed all for her, and she’s not interested. 

“Jeremy-” 

“It’s Chikara,” he grits out, turning his back on her, “Jeremy’s gone. It’s Chikara.” With that, he hops off the balcony, and Lila watches him go, an odd, unreadable feeling in her body.


	9. Eight

Chikara doesn’t know where he’s going at all. He’s too ashamed to go back to Master Shredder. He failed his mission. His training and power, both for naught. He leaps and runs until he’s at the end of one of the bridges, devoid of anybody.

His mind is spinning so much that he can’t stand up, so he sits on the bridge so his legs are dangling off the edge, watching the water lap below. Closing his eyes, thoughts rushing his head like the water.

'I failed. I failed myself and I failed Master Shredder. There’s no way I can face him or the Foot now. All of this for nothing. I changed myself for nothing. Lila doesn’t love me. She’s not even interested in me!' He opens his eyes and looks at the water. 'I’d bet a thousand dollars she wouldn’t even care if I just jumped off this bridge, right now! No, no, that’s foolish, I won’t do that.' Sighing, he shuts his eyes. 'What am I gonna do now? There’s nothing left for me.' He mulls over his depressing thoughts until he thinks 'It’s no good, being good'. His eyes shoot open, and he repeats the thought in his head. “It’s no good, being good,” he says to himself, slowly standing up. 

A savage smirk crosses his face. “Well then. If there’s no reason for me to be good, I shouldn’t be,” he says. “I need to fully live up to my name. My true name.” His eyes flash. “Lila, you will FEAR me. I won’t stop until you’re mine...or you’re gone. And I’ll destroy anyone who gets in my way!” He lets out a long, sinister laugh that only the water hears.


	10. Nine

Lila doesn’t know what to do. She’s always been aware of Jeremy’s crush on her, and she’s never felt the same way for him. She can’t believe he never got her subtle hints until she outright told him. And his cold reaction...that’s new, and adds another layer of fear to this scary situation. What’s even worse is that he attacked the Turtles, her friends (though thankfully, he doesn’t seem to know they’re her friends), and she’s worried he might pick up where he left off and finish them, then go after April and Casey. Then again, she doesn’t know how powerful he really is, and she’s scared to find out. She’s grateful that Aunt Irma won’t be home for another three days. At least she’ll be protected from this incident.

Lila remembers that April wants her to go to the shop as soon as she can. It’s closed on Saturdays, but she thinks that April just wants her to be protected as she knows Aunt Irma’s out of town. She glances at the clock. 9am, sharp. She didn’t sleep very well last night due to being so nervous over Jeremy. 

A cold feeling suddenly settles in her body. Almost like...a warning. She suddenly gets the urge to call April right exactly now and tell her to leave the shop. Picking up the phone, she dials April’s number, and to her relief, April answers on the second ring. 

“Hello?”

“April! I’m glad you answered. Is Casey there?”

“Yeah?”

“And do you know if the Turtles are okay?”

“Funny you asked, Mikey just called and gave us all clean reports. They’re A-OK.”

“Good. Listen, I need you and Casey to get out of the shop, right now.”

“Huh? Why? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I know it’s weird but please, leave the shop right now. I can’t explain it, but please listen to me. Go to the lair, okay?”

“Lila, you’re not making any sense.”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry but this is really important! I have something I need to tell you.”

“Okay. I trust you. We’re leaving now. I’ll call you when we get there.”

“I’ll be waiting. Thank you, April. See you soon.”

“See you soon, Lila.” Hanging up the phone, Lila bites her lip nervously and paces. She can’t get the weird feeling out of her body, and it’s feeding her fear and adrenaline. She paces around her apartment, feeling like a rat in a cage. (Sorry, Splinter.) 

Not even ten minutes later, the phone rings, and Lila practically runs to it. “Hello?”

“Hello, Lila,” Chikara says, and she freezes.

“Chikara? What do you want?”

“I’m currently at a quaint little shop called...2nd Time Around?” Lila’s eyes widen and she gasps. “It’s full of lovely antiques. It’s too bad that there’s nobody here. No cute employees by the name of Lila?”

“How...how did you-”

“I followed you, obviously. You’re terribly evasive. I had to take matters into my own hands.” 

Lila’s heart begins to pound and she bites her lip. “Chikara-”

“Too bad, nobody’s here,” he continues. “I guess I’ll just have to take my leave now.” A crashing sound is heard. “Oops. I’m such a klutz, like you.”

Lila grits her teeth and spits “Don’t take your petty anger out on April’s stuff!”

“Petty?” Chikara repeats, sounding dumbfounded. “Oh, my dear, this isn’t pettiness. Not at all. In fact, I suggest you begin watching the news in say, two minutes?”

“Why? What are you doing?”

“You’ll see. Goodbye, my dear Lila.”

“Wait! Jeremy-!” He hangs up on her, and she looks at the phone for a second before hanging it up and running out, only stopping to grab her shell-phone. She runs out of her apartment just as a loud CRASH! is heard. All of her neighbors and building tenants run out of the building with her, just in time to see a red-clothed figure punching the side of the apartment building. In a few punches, the building collapses, thankfully with nobody in it. Lila’s hidden in the crowd, and she instantly recognizes who destroyed the building. Chikara! Chikara smirks at the crowd, unable to see her, and leaps away just as a news van pulls up. 

Lila looks around, and she sees a passing cab. Running towards it, she waves her arms and it stops just shy of hitting her. Sliding in the back she quickly says, “I need you to drive me somewhere!”

The cab driver, a black man in his middle ages, looks at her like she’s insane. “Are you sure, little lady?” he asks. “There’s a dangerous situation going on right now!”

“Please! I know I’m asking a lot, but I need you to drive me somewhere right now! Please!” Lila pleads, and the driver takes a look at her and sighs, turning back around.

“Where to?” He asks tiredly. Lila smiles appreciatively and gives him the address. Just after she gives it to him, her shell-phone rings and she immediately answers it. “Hello?”

“Lila? We’re at the lair, where are you?” April asks, sounding very concerned.

“April! I’m really glad you’re there! Is everyone else there too? Are you all okay?” Lila asks as the driver goes to the address she gave him.

“Yes, we’re all here and safe. Where are you? Why did you tell me and Casey to come here?” Suddenly, another building falls to the left of the cab, and Lila screams. “Lila?!”

“I’m fine! That was just a building! Listen, I need to tell you something! You know that Chikara guy who attacked the Turtles? Well, I,” she swallows, “I know him!”

“What?!” April gasps, and she hears a chorus of gasps and shouts, meaning she’s on speaker which is good. 

“He goes to my school, and his name’s actually Jeremy Hunter, not Chikara!” Cars are flung and a traffic pole falls in the road; the driver sharply swerves to avoid it, and Lila grabs the door handle tightly to keep herself steady. “And he’s in love with me! He got all these ninja powers so he could try and impress me so I’d be with him! He asked me last night and I said no and now he’s wreaking havoc!” 

“Where did he get those powers, though?” Casey’s voice asks. 

“I’m not really sure!” More damage takes place out of the cab. Peeking out of the window, she sees the outline of Chikara, leaping from rooftop to rooftop while cutting a nearby power line. The power line catches in the wind and lands in the path of the cab, but the driver manages to avoid it in time. Luckily, they’re almost to the destination. 

“Lila, what are you doing now?” April asks. 

“I’m going to try and reason with him,” Lila replies, and hears a chorus of protests. “I’m the one he’s after.”

“You can’t do that!” Mikey cries.

“You’ll get hurt!” Donnie adds.

“It’s too dangerous!” Raph says firmly.

“Lila, listen to me, do not go after him on your own,” Leo orders sternly in his ‘leader-voice’. “Raph’s right, it’s too dangerous.” The driver pulls up to the destination, just as Chikara leaps onto the roof of the building where he took Lila for their “first date”.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. It’s going to be okay, don’t worry.” With that, she hangs up and runs out of the car. Looking at the driver, she says, “I’m sorry, I can’t pay you right now but-” just then, a loud crash hits the trunk of the car. It’s a large tree, uprooted.

“Geez almighty!” The driver screams. “Don’t worry ‘bout pay, just get somewhere safe!” With that, he drives off, leaving Lila in front of the building. The wind kicks up her hair and she shivers briefly, but she takes a deep breath and runs into the building.


	11. Ten

The Turtles, April and Casey are frozen in the middle of the lair, reeling from what they just learned.

“Wait, so Chikara’s not Chikara, he’s just some dude who won’t take a hint?” Mikey asks, both dumbfounded and angry. 

“Sounds like it,” Raph says through gritted teeth, cracking his knuckles. “And now he’s throwing a citywide hissy fit.” 

“I’m worried about Lila,” Donnie says, making them all nod in agreement, “she says she’s going to try and talk sense into him, but he’s dangerous and he could easily hurt her.”

“My sons!” Splinter calls, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Come quickly!” Everyone runs to the sitting room where the rat master sits with a grim expression on his face. 

“What’s the matter, Sensei?” Leo asks his father in concern.

“Take a look, Leonardo.” Splinter unmutes the tv, and the news is currently showing Chikara on a rampage, causing destruction freely with a maniacal grin on his face. The cameras capture him as he grabs a camera out of the hands of a cameraman, using it to film himself as he leaps wherever he pleases.

“New York City, my name is Chikara,” he announces, leaping up to a skyscraper and setting it up so it’s focused on him. “And I am a ninja! Typically, you think of ninjas as heroic individuals, correct? Well, allow me to change your perception! This ninja finds no joy in doing good for the ‘good’ of it!” He laughs. “That notion is laughable! There is nothing to be gained by being good! Do you hear that? There is nothing to be gained personally from being good! I know, because when I donned this mask, my heart was-”

“Jeremy!” A very familiar voice calls, and Chikara smirks. 

“Speak of the devil,” he says, and grabs the camera, angling it to show Lila, who’s now on the rooftop with him. “New Yorkers, this is the very person I was speaking of. I donned this mask for her, and how did she repay me?” He angles the camera so it shows both him and Lila. “By tearing out my heart! Showing complete ingratitude!”

“Jeremy, listen, you need to stop-” Lila starts.

“MY NAME IS CHIKARA!” He shouts, startling her before he composes himself. “Jeremy is no more. And you of all people have no right to tell me what to do, or that I should stop. Because, Lily, all of this?” He opens his arms and smirks. “All of this is your fault.”

“My fault?” Lila repeats, clasping her hands tightly as the winds kick up in the coming storm. At the lair, every person’s face is twisted into anger or worry. 

“YES! You are the cause of all of this!” Chikara shouts. “I changed for you! I became a ninja for you! I saved you! I confessed my love for you! And you threw it all away!” 

Lila looks scared, but she takes a deep breath and frowns. “None of this is my fault, Jeremy,” she begins firmly, taking a step forward. “I never had any feelings for you and you ignored how I felt! Learn to take no for an answer!” Feeling very angry all of a sudden, she shoves Chikara, sending him stumbling back, slightly hitting the camera off kilter.

“Li-Lila,” he says dumbfounded, before his eyes glow in fury. “You’re mine!” With that, he picks up the camera and throws it in her direction. It hits the rooftop door and smashes, only her scream being heard.

“Lila!” Everyone in the lair cries. 

“We need to find her, right now,” Leo says urgently. 

“She made him angry and you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry!” Mikey cries. 

“Guys! Lila has her shell-phone! And she’s really close according to the tracker!” Donnie calls.

“Then what are we waiting for? The longer we wait the worse Lila could be!” Raph snaps. The Turtles run to the Battle-Shell, only Leo lingering for a second.

“April, Casey, stay here, we’ll call you if we need backup,” the blue-masked turtle says before following his younger brothers out the Battle-Shell.

“We’ll be waiting!” Casey calls after them.

“Please make sure Lila’s okay!” Irma calls worriedly. “I’m so worried about her.”

The Turtles pile into the Battle-Shell and assume positions, one thought persisting in all four minds: 'Hang on, Lila, we’re on our way!'


	12. Eleven

The stolen news camera, combined with the force of Chikara’s throw, shatters the steel door and the concrete entrance around it, and the materials crumble, blocking off Lila’s only escape route. She didn’t mean to push him-figuratively and literally-but he’s delusional, dangerous, and his actions are destroying parts of New York City.

“I don’t understand, Lila!” Chikara cries, approaching her. “We’re perfect for one another! You drive me up a wall! Besides, I’m way better for you than those mystery four turtle freaks!” Her eyes widen. “Yeah, you heard me! Master Shredder told me everything and I saw them for myself!”

Lila finds herself growing angrier. “They are NOT freaks! Don’t say that just because of their appearance!” 

Chikara stops approaching, his eyes widening as he puts the pieces together. “Wait a minute...you actually KNOW those freaks?!” 

“Yes! They’re my friends!” Lila replies passionately. “And they’re actual heroes unlike you! And good people!”

“Good people?” Chikara repeats incredulously before breaking out in mocking, scornful laughter. “How can they be good people if they’re not even people?!” 

“You can be a good person regardless of your appearance! It doesn’t matter!” Lila exclaims. 

Chikara laughs at her again before replying, “Lila, you’re so naive it’s cute. Some things need to be taken at face value.” 

“I hope you don’t value your face, because I’m about to break it!” A very familiar, heavily Brooklyn-accented voice interrupts as green and a flash of red appears behind Chikara to his right, sai raised.

“Raphael,” Lila breathes with a relieved smile. In response, he flashes her a grin. 

“Bad guy, bad fashion sense, dude!” Mikey jeers from her left, nunchucks out, and she sighs in relief.

“Michelangelo!” She cries out and Mikey grins at her. 

“You can insult us all you like, but it doesn’t matter! We’ll still kick your butt!!” It’s Donnie, and he’s to Lila’s right, his staff poised to strike. 

“Donatello!” She smiles at him, and he gives her a gentle yet assured smile.

“Hey, Lila. Hang on, okay?” He asks her and she nods.

“You mess with our friends,” Leo says, appearing behind Chikara to his left, “and you mess with us!” He holds his katana up, ready to attack.

“Leonardo,” Lila sighs, and he grins at her. 

The Turtles have Chikara surrounded, and there’s no escaping without a chance of getting a butt-whooping. A major one. Chikara grits his teeth and looks around. Every Turtle has his weapon raised in preparation for attack. Lila looks very relieved, her hands now clasped loose with relief instead of tight with anxiety. It looks like it’s the end of him.

Only, it isn’t. He has one more trick up his sleeve, and it’s for situations just like this one, where there’s no escape. Master Shredder was very clear on it.

“Do not use this foolishly, young Chikara,” he said after teaching it to Chikara. “It is to be used as a last resort, and nothing more.”

This is a last resort situation. “I see. I’m surrounded.” Chikara closes his eyes, and uses the power. Faster than the Turtles or Lila can see, he’s suddenly behind her and with precision, he lands a chop to the back of her neck, causing her to let out a strangled gasp as she’s knocked out almost instantly, and Chikara swiftly catches her, ignoring the gasps of outrage and shock from the Turtles. He spins around, eyeing each of them before saying “If I can’t have Lila...then nobody can.” His eyes gleam dangerously as he suddenly disappears before their eyes as Leo and Raph rush him, leaving all four of them on the rooftop, having escaped with the unconscious Lila in his arms. Her shell-phone clatters to the concrete where she stood.

“Lila!” Donnie cries, dropping to his knees and picking up her shell-phone. 

“What happened? Where’d he go?!” Mikey asks, whipping around frantically. 

“He got away!” Raph spits angrily, stomping on the concrete. “With Lila!”

“And since she dropped her shell-phone,” Leo begins, “we have no way of tracking her.” 

“Are you saying this is a dead end, Leo?” Raph demands his older brother, rage born out of worry for their kidnapped friend.

“Afraid so, Raph,” Leo replies grimly. “And, we have no idea where he's going. For all we know, he could be fleeing New York City.”

“With Lila in his villainous clutches!” Mikey adds, looking scared as his oldest brother nods. All four of them feel so hopeless. Lila’s been kidnapped, and they have no way of being able to find her quickly. Leo’s right, for all they know, Chikara may very well be on his way out of New York City with her. And to top it all off, a big lightning storm is brewing and it’s not even noon yet. Nobody has any idea what to do, other than flee the rooftop and go back to the Battle-Shell to avoid being seen by the news (thankfully, Chikara destroyed a news camera). 

“I’ll call Master Splinter and April and Casey,” Leo says soberly on a quiet drive back to the lair, pulling out his shell-phone and calling their father, who picks up on the first ring, as if he’s been waiting for them. 

“My sons,” Splinter greets them, “tell me you bring good news.”

“I wish we did, Sensei,” Leo says sadly. “Chikara got away, and he has Lila.” 

“What?!” April yells in the background. “He has her?!” 

“I’m so sorry,” Leo apologizes on everyone’s behalf, glancing at each of his younger brothers. Raph is driving, gripping the wheel so tightly his green knuckles are white, and his teeth are gritted in a perma-scowl. Donnie’s on the verge of tears, looking at his staff and sniffling. Mikey isn’t smiling or trying to lighten the mood, and is just looking at the floor. The only noises in the Battle-Shell are Leo speaking and the feedback of the phone.

Splinter says, “You sound as if you are hopeless, Leonardo.” He sounds both stern and sympathetic.

“I feel that way, Master Splinter. I think we all do. We don’t know where Lila could be, she dropped her shell-phone. But the weird thing is, Chikara just...teleported. He just disappeared! There’s no way a human being is that fast!”

Splinter goes silent. “Teleportation, you say? Can all of you hear me?”

“Yes, Sensei,” the four say in unison.

“Good. Listen closely, my sons. I have pieced it all together. Chikara is a name he took from an ancient tea.”

“A tea?” Mikey repeats. “Like, drinking tea?”

“Precisely, Michelangelo,” Splinter affirms. “Chikara tea is a widely-held ninja secret. It grants great power to those who consume it, but at great cost.”

“What kind of cost we talking, Sensei?” Raphael asks. 

“The tea’s ingredients are extraordinarily rare, Raphael. The leaves are from a nearly-extinct plant. It requires a crystal that talks great effort to mine. Lastly, it requires the maker’s blood.” 

Mikey shudders. “Why blood, Sensei? Does it turn you into a vampire?” His family smiles a bit, glad Mikey’s back to his jovial, prankster self. 

Splinter’s glad too, for he chuckles. “In a sense, Michelangelo. It assures whoever drinks it is loyal to the maker and their whims. Across thousands of years, there have been less than one hundred who know how to correctly make it. In this world, I am one of only two who knows how.” His voice turns serious. “The other...is Shredder.”

Everyone gasps loudly. “What?! Are you saying-” Mikey starts.

“Shredder is the one who gave Chikara his power!” Donnie finishes. 

“Precisely, Donatello,” Splinter affirms. “But, there is a silver lining. If you can find Shredder-”

“We can find Chikara, and we find Lila!” Leo finishes for his father. 

“Precisely, Leonardo!” 

“And once we find Chikara, I knock his skull in!” Raphael grins ferociously.

“Precisely, Raphael! Wait, what did you say?”

“Nothing, master,” Leo says quickly, elbowing his hot-headed younger brother. “We’re going to locate Shredder so we can find Chikara and save Lila. Thank you very much for your help, Master Splinter.”

“Thank me by rescuing Lila and making sure she is safe,” Splinter replies. “Good luck, my sons. Be cautious.”

“Get her back!” April calls.

“Don’t get your shell-kicked, boys!” Casey jeers, but they hear his sincerity. They grin and end the call. 

“So, uh, how are we gonna find Shredder?” Mikey asks the magic question. “We don’t have a tracker for him.” 

“I think I might have an answer, Mikey,” Donnie says, typing something and bringing it up on the screen. “Look here. The Foot have been attacking and marking territory in a certain pattern. It’s not easily recognized, but once you find it, you can’t unsee it. If they’re still following this pattern, then that means, they’ll be striking here tonight.” He motions to the location of a generator plant. “Which means we can track them back to Shredder.”

“Do you think Lila will be okay until tonight?” Mikey expresses his worry.

“It’s our only option, Mikey,” Donnie explains. “We have no other way of finding Chikara, and saving Lila.” 

“Donnie’s right, we have to wait until tonight,” Leo agrees. “Don’t worry. We’re going to find Lila and save her, no matter what.”


	13. Twelve

A small groan escapes Lila’s lips as she awakens and rubs her eyes before the memories come flooding back to her, and she gasps, realizing she’s been kidnapped by Chikara (for the THIRD time). Slowly rising to her feet, her neck aches, and she rubs at it, remembering Chikara chopped her neck to knock her out. Looking around, she’s in a room with only candles for light, and they’re glowing brightly enough to have been recently lit, so she wonders how long she’s been unconscious for, but she notices that she appears to be in a warehouse. 

“Hello, Lila.” She gasps and whirls to the direction of the dishearteningly-familiar voice, but to her surprise, nobody’s in the room with her. “Can’t see me?” He suddenly appears in front of her which startles her into stepping back. “Now, you can.” Chikara smirks.

“What are you doing, Jeremy? Where am I?” Lila asks. 

“My name is CHIKARA!” Chikara snaps, throwing a candle to the floor. It sets the rug on fire, but he stomps it out quickly. “Jeremy is gone, Lila. And that’s all because of you.”

“No, you’re not gone,” Lila denies him, “you’re just throwing a big temper tantrum because I said no to you.” Chikara growls at her, and before she can blink, he’s gone again. 

“You snapped my heart in two! You’re a heartless, cruel person! I am a NICE GUY, and YOU JUST DON’T APPRECIATE NICE GUYS!”!” Something invisible yet solid shoves at her back, and she yelps, falling forward to the floor. Seeing shelves of robes and clothes, she runs between them. “Oh yes, run.” He cackles, sounding amused. Lila goes to hide between the shelves when one nearly falls on her, making her yelp and rush out of the way. “Do you know where we are?! We’re in the Foot Clan hideout!” He proclaims, appearing in front of her again, making her fall onto her rear in surprise. “One of them, anyway. This is where we store our gear.” Lila scrambles to her feet and runs off again. “You can run, but you won’t get very far, Irma!” He calls out. “And you can hide, but I’ll know where you are!”

I need to get away from him! But where can I hide?! Lila thinks, ducking between shelves and crawling under a table to catch her breath and try to calm her pounding heart. She screams when the table is flung up, papers scattering like leaves, and Chikara is standing over her, grinning savagely. He grabs her upper arms and yanks her up, pulling her close to his face.

“You’re not making this very fun, Lily,” he scolds playfully as she tries to break free of his iron grip on her arms. “It’s not fun when I can easily find you. At least make it a little challenging.” His grin is wiped off his face when Lila kicks him in the area where a man is most sensitive. Wheezing in pain, he immediately lets go of her and falls to his knees, and she runs off through the door to the back room. “You don’t play fair!” He calls after her, struggling to get up. He remembers that the back room is not just one room, but a covering for an underground network.

Lila finds this out when she trips over the rug covering the underground’s opening. Falling onto her poor knees, she sees the cover and with all her strength, pulls it open. She sees the ladder, and confident that Chikara will be distracted for at least another thirty seconds due to her attack, grabs an already lit candle, climbs carefully into the hole and uses the ladder to climb down. She climbs down until her foot hits a solid ground, and carefully places her other foot on the floor, keeping her hand on the ladder. The slight light from above isn’t enough for her to see ahead, but she has a candle. It’s a tunnel, she finds. Gulping, she holds her borrowed candle tightly and runs as fast as she can before she sees an exit up ahead and to the side, and starts going down the side exit.

“Lila!” Chikara calls, sounding enraged, just as she hears a loud THUD! It’s unmistakably the sound of feet hitting the floor, and she extinguishes her candle in a moment of panic, immediately regretting it. “I will find you, Lila!” Chikara yells. “And once I do, I’m never going to let you out of my sight ever again! You’ll do nothing that I don’t know about!” Lila gulps nervously but sees her path has light near the end of it. As softly as she can, she rushes to that light, almost completely blind in the darkness, and the only things she can hear are the sounds of Chikara’s thudding footsteps and her hammering heart. Her breaths become quicker and shallower when she hears him getting closer, and she stops, pressing herself to the side of the tunnel when she sees the dim light. 

Chikara comes by, holding another candle, and he stops walking to look around. She uses the darkness to hide, and holds her breath until he passes by. I need to see where this tunnel ends, and I need to be quiet about it, Lila thinks as she steadily makes her way to the end of the tunnel, making sure her footsteps are as soft as possible. She’s halfway there to the light when she hears him again.

“Lila…?” Chikara calls out in a singsong voice, making her freeze and cling to the wall. To her dismay, the light of his candle is coming back to the tunnel she’s in. “Come out, come out, wherever you are…” He fully comes into view, the candlelight illuminating his figure with a somewhat sinister glow. She bites her lip, hard, and glances back at the end of the tunnel. Squinting hard, she sees the fuzzy, faint outline of a ladder, and sees her chance to get out. Glancing back at Chikara, and knowing the risk of what must be done, she takes a deep breath and breaks into a run. “Oh, there you are!” She hears heavy footsteps chasing after her but she doesn’t look behind, she keeps running until she sees that ladder. Grabbing it tightly, she climbs up it as quickly as she’s able. “You won’t be able to hide, Lila! I can and will find you!” Chikara’s voice sounds very close, but she forces her panic down and climbs until she nearly clocks herself on a hatch. Pushing it up with all her might, she gets it open and climbs up. 

“Lila!” Chikara screams, and he comes into view at the bottom of the ladder. His dark pink eyes glow so fiercely that they look like fire, and he abandons his candle to climb the ladder. Lila slams the hatch and secures its lock. Knowing it won’t keep Chikara from entering, she looks around the room quickly and sees a small tea table, which she drags on top of the hatch. “Lila!” Chikara screams again, and Lila can only watch in terror as he pounds on the hatch, sure he’s going to break through until he gives up and she hears his footsteps fade away underground. Sighing in relief, she sinks to her knees to catch her breath for a minute and try to calm her pounding heart. 

“I need to find a way out of here,” she says to herself, “I know he’ll be back, and he’s not going to be happy when he does.” Rising to her feet, she looks around the room for any sort of clue as to where she is, but the room is identical to the one she left at the other warehouse. Suddenly, she hears voices behind the closed door, and cautiously approaches it, pulling it open slowly. She can’t see anything due to waves of black fabric, and wonders if this is a clothing warehouse.

“Foot Clan!” An eerily familiar voice booms, and her heart skips a beat when she hears it. The black-fabrics clear, and her heart almost stops beating.

“Shredder,” she whispers in horror. She’s in another of the Foot Clan compounds, like Chikara mentioned, and it looks like the Foot is right in the middle of an executive meeting. Gripping the door handle tightly, she stays completely still, terrified of being discovered, but also curious as to what the Foot Clan leader is going to say. 

“I have been made aware of a traitor in our midst,” Shredder booms. “Someone who is selfishly using the Foot Clan’s gifts and generosity for personal self-gain!” Lila can’t help rolling her eyes at the man’s hypocrisy. As if he didn’t do the very same many years ago. 

“This cannot, and will not be tolerated!” Shredder exclaims, his voice echoing in the warehouse. “If anyone has any information on this traitor...bring it to me! I will deal with it, myself!” The entire Foot Clan bows before him, and there are murmurs of “Great Shredder” or “Wise Shredder”. Lila scoffs under her breath. “The operation will be continued as planned,” Shredder continues. “There is no reason for it to be stopped. You all have your orders. In one hour, you will go out to the next location as discussed and planned. Understand?”

“Yes, Master Shredder,” the Foot says in unison.

“Excellent. Now go. Prepare yourselves.” At his words, the Foot Clan bows to him, and they disperse to do their master’s bidding. Lila watches through the sliver of the door as Shredder walks up a flight of stairs to the right of the building’s interior wall. When everyone is cleared out of the immediate area, Lila softly shuts the door and sinks down to her rear, clasping her hands tightly. She remembers the news reports, and seeing the Foot symbols around the city and undoubtedly, they’re going to cause more mayhem and create more fear.

“What am I going to do?” She asks herself quietly. “What can I do? What are Shredder and the Foot even doing? If they know I’m here, I’m toast. But Chikara’s still after me. I can’t let him catch me.” She sits there, thinking of what possible options before she remembers something. “Wait...if Shredder said for them to go in an hour...what time is it? The Foot strikes at night. Then if it’s nighttime...how long have I been gone for? And not to mention unconscious?” There are many questions that have no answers for Lila, and it upsets her. She’s really scared, and tears of fear prick at her eyes. Seeing no other options for now, she draws her legs close, hugs them, hides her face in her knees and starts to cry softly. 

She cries for April, her beloved friend and benevolent boss who always takes care of her, treats and loves her like she’s family, makes her delicious treats and gave her a job when she needed it, and is just like her big sister. “April.”

She cries for Donatello, who’s always showing off his genius to help his family which he includes her in, spends the most amount of time with her (with Mikey), is always interested in what she has to say, is her shoulder to cry on when she needs it, and is one of her best friends. “Donnie.”

She cries for Michelangelo, who never fails to make her laugh or cheer her up, provides her with a unique, different perspective, is very supportive of her, always shares his food or his comics with her, helps her relax, and is one of her best friends. “Mikey.” 

She cries for Raphael, who’s the most protective of her of anybody she’s ever met, encourages her to stand up for others, who always loses to her at video games, who’s her polar opposite in terms of personality, and is one of her best friends. “Raph.”

She cries for Leonardo, who is always the first to calm her when she’s frightened or worried (besides April), who soothes her fears no matter what they are, who counteracts with his level-headedness when she’s being hasty, is the best listener, and is one of her best friends. “Leo.”

She cries for Aunt Irma, who stepped up to the task of raising a young girl when her brother went to prison and her sister-in-law left the country for her own life without giving her daughter any regard, and who loves her as if she’s her own child, and encouraging her ever since they’ve been together. “Aunt Irma.”

She cries for Casey, her good friend whom she shares a witty yet respectful rapport with, who teaches her to defend herself and is like the big brother she never had. “Casey.”

She even cries for Splinter, whom she’s not very close to, but she still loves him like family and he never fails to provide her with wisdom and food for thought, and is happy to listen to her. “Splinter.” 

Lila loves them all, and she’s very scared and wants nothing more than to be with them right now. She just doesn’t know how to get out of this situation. After crying for a bit longer, she dries her tears and stands up, determined to find a way out of this so she can see her friends again. She refuses to just give up, and won’t do it. Though she doesn’t know how long it’s been since the Foot Clan met with Shredder, she estimates it’s only been a few minutes, so she decides to look around the room to see if she can find any clues that will do anything. Tell her what the Foot is up to, what’s going on with Shredder, anything is good. She checks on the small bookshelf, and only finds a couple of scrolls written in Japanese, a language of which she has only minimal knowledge, but when she goes to put away the last scroll she found, her hand knocks something loose from the underside of the shelf, cutting her finger a bit. Wincing, she sees that it’s a paper cut, and knows she didn’t cut herself on any of the scrolls she just looked through, so she reaches under the shelf and retrieves what’s taped to the underside. Pulling it out, she sees it’s...a set of directions. It’s written in Japanese, but when she pulls it, she’s able to open it further. It shows a full set of pictures, so she sets it on the tea table to examine it further. 

She understands the numbers, and is able to count the steps for...some sort of recipe? She recognizes the process for making tea, and it shows the ingredients and the preparation for each ingredient to make the tea. She doesn’t recognize the plant where the leaves come from because it’s a very generic-looking plant save for the color of the leaves, which is white, and believes the gem required is merely a ruby or a sapphire. It grosses her out when she sees that the final ‘ingredient’ is blood, but reads on until she comes across the pictures of someone consuming the tea. Her eyes widen upon seeing that the results are almost instantaneous-the person who consumes the tea gains abilities, as seen by the dark pink eyes they get after drinking. Flipping back to the front, Lila gasps upon reading the title of the recipe

パワーティー. Or, when translated to English, ‘Power Tea’. “Chikara means power,” Lila whispers to herself, “of course! That’s it! That’s why it’s familiar! Which means that this is the source of Jeremy’s powers! And Shredder must have given it to him! It does require blood after all, and I don’t really see why any other member of the Foot Clan would give him the power if he went to them! And that’s why he’s calling himself Chikara!” She’s both ecstatic and terrified that she found the recipe and the answer to how Jeremy became Chikara. Recognizing the danger and the potential of this recipe, she folds it up and tucks it into one of her arm warmers, just as she hears voices outside the door again. Rushing back to the door, she cracks it open slightly and sees Foot ninja gathering. 

“It is time for the operation to commence,” one ninja says. “It is paramount that we are not interrupted again, like last time. See what trouble that has been for us all.”

“Like last time? What’s that mean?” Lila asks herself softly as she watches the ninja clear the building. Once she’s sure the coast is clear, she opens the door to sneak out. 

A pair of arms grabs her and she’s so surprised that she doesn’t repress her scream. “Found you,” Chikara’s voice smirks in her ear as he pulls her against his body and wraps his arms tighter around her. She’s thrashing, kicking wildly, trying to break free any way possible, especially when she realizes he’s dragging her back towards the tunnels. “I caught you fair and square. I get my prize.”

“Let me go! I’m not your prize!” Lila shrieks, kicking him hard, which causes him to falter a bit, but he doesn’t let go of her. 

“I told you, you’re mine, Lila!” Chikara claims. “If I can’t have you, then nobody can!” This statement terrifies Lila, even more than anything he’s ever said to her before, because she knows he’s serious. He’ll stop at nothing to make her his, even if she doesn’t want it to be, like she’s said before, and makes her realize he’s fully snapped. 

“I’m not yours!” Lila snaps back, “I don’t belong to anyone!” She lifts her foot and stops as hard as she can, and this causes him to let her go. She stumbles and almost falls, but is able to pick herself up. The recipe falls out of her arm warmer. “The recipe!” She makes a dash for it, but a large hand grabs it out of her reach. Following that hand up, she realizes it’s attached to a clawed blade, and attached to a massive person. 

“Shredder,” Lila gasps in horror.


	14. Thirteen

“When will they be here, Donnie?” Mikey asks his older brother. Though he’s mostly back to himself, his question is out of worry, not excitement. 

“Any minute now, Mikey,” Donnie assures his younger brother, just as desperate to find Lila as his brothers are. It’s been hours since she was kidnapped, and the Foot is their only lead to her. 

The Turtles are lying in wait for the Foot to show up to the most recent location of where they’ll commit crime that night, an electric company. Each Turtle is perfectly still, their weapons within reach in a second, ready to strike. 

A minute later, they hear the distinctive noise of rustling cloth and softly-stepping feet, and every turtle’s ear perks. Sharing a wide, silent glance, each of the four wait for the Foot ninja who will be unlucky enough to cross them tonight. A team of eight crosses their line of sight, one with painting supplies strapped to their back. 

Leo, without even glancing at his younger brothers, says softly yet clearly “Now.”

They strike, taking the Foot by complete surprise. The battle is short despite the disadvantage in number for the Turtles, ending with the Turtles’ victory. Unconscious or beaten Foot Ninja lay scattered around the electrical company, save for one who’s struggling to get up. Raph marches over and grabs them, hauling them up by the loose folds of their uniform. 

“Now,” he snarls, “you’re going to tell us where your master is, or my sharp, pointy friend and you will get very closely acquainted.” He holds his sai up to the ninja’s throat. 

“I will never betray Master Shredder to the likes of you!” The ninja declares, sounding male. 

“Do what my big brother says,” Mikey says angrily, coming closer with his nunchucks raised, “or I’ll clack your dumb head in.”

“Never! Your threats do not scare me!” 

“Do what my little brothers say,” Leo threatens, raising his blades, “or you’ll become sushi.” In contrast to Raph’s fiery rage and Mikey’s reckless anger, his temper is calm, yet foreboding, just like the calm in the middle of a raging storm. 

The ninja takes them all seriously this time, seeing as his chances of getting out of this unscathed or alive are drastically falling, and lets out a massive sigh of defeat. “Master Shredder maintains three compounds, or hideouts for the common folk,” he sneers. “He’s likely at this one at this time of night for it is his...living space.” He gives the Turtles the location of the compound, and satisfied, Raph knocks him out with the handle of his sai and drops his unconscious form to the ground.

Donnie, ever the peaceful one, winces at his older brother’s actions. “Was that really necessary, Raph?” he asks. 

“It made me feel better,” Raph smirks. “You got the location of the hideout, Donnie?”

“Yep! All we need to do is go there!” The Turtles rush back to the Battle-Shell and Donnie punches in the compound’s address. It’s a surprisingly lengthy drive, but they’re more than willing to break a couple of traffic laws for their friend. 

“Hang on, Lila,” Raph mutters from the passenger’s side as Leo drives, “we’re on our way.”


	15. Fourteen

“I thought I heard a couple of rats in here,” Shredder snarls, glaring at the two of them, but mainly at Chikara. 

For his part, Chikara looks terrified, his eyes wide. “M-Master Shredder,” he stammers out. “I did not expect you to be here. Isn’t there a mission tonight, sir?” 

“That does not require my participation,” Shredder says. He glances at Lila, who’s clasping her hands tightly. “Is this the one you have feelings for?”

“Yes, she is, Master,” Chikara affirms with a smirk in Lila’s direction. “She’s just...being difficult.”

“I see. So the tea worked, but not in the way you hoped it would,” he says to Chikara.

“It worked just fine, Master!” Chikara snaps, then composes himself quickly. “She’s mine! No matter what, she’s mine!” While he’s briefly distracted by conversing with Shredder, Lila sees the exit/entrance of the warehouse, and makes a run for it. 

A line of black comes into her line of vision and she can’t get out of the way fast enough when she’s knocked to the floor, hard. “Ow,” she groans, holding her mouth as she hears laughter. 

“It seems your lover is trying to escape,” Shredder says, and she looks up into his burning gaze.

“I’m not his lover!” She snaps, getting back to her feet and holding the right side of her jaw. “I don’t have any feelings for him! He just thinks he has a right to me!” 

“I DO!” Chikara booms, making her jump and whirl around. “I DO HAVE A RIGHT TO YOU! YOU’RE MINE, LILA, AND YOU DON’T GET TO BREAK MY HEART AND GET AWAY!” 

It’s no use, he’s too far gone, Lila thinks in horror as she rubs her jaw. I think Chikara really is gone. And by gone, I think GONE CRAZY. There’s no way this is an effect of the tea, this is how Jeremy’s always been, and I just never realized how bad he truly is. Having power just made him much worse. 

“Nonetheless, you have gotten what you wanted, young Chikara,” Shredder says, stepping in front of the entrance, blocking Lila’s escape route. Chikara steps closer to her, and she’s effectively sandwiched between the two. “But, you have BETRAYED ME!” 

Chikara’s eyes widen. “Sir…?! Who told you this, this blatant falsehood?”

“Do not play dumb with me, boy!” Shredder rages. “You broke a sacred rule of the tea you consumed for your power!” He holds up the recipe. “You copied how to make the tea! Now anybody can make it! And possibly overthrow me!” His eyes glow like flames.

Chikara freezes for a second, then breaks into laughter. “So what?!” he says. “I am powerful! Any idiot with eyesight can research the ingredients, just as I did!” He smirks. “In fact...I believe that, with another dose of this tea, I will be more powerful than you! It’s not like you do anything, is it, sir? I mean, you send the Foot Clan to do your hands on work for you! Then you land a cowardly blow to finish your enemies off, do you not?!” He lets out a loud laugh. 

Nobody sees it coming. 

Nobody but Shredder sees it coming. 

Lila doesn’t see Shredder move, only seeing him in front of Chikara with his clawed glove cocked behind him, and her eyes widen and she screams “NO!”

Chikara’s eyes go wide and his mouth falls open in a silent scream. He falls over Shredder’s arm, and Lila sinks to her knees, her hands going to cover her mouth to hold back her own screams, but they come out as choked sobs. The shadow of the two figures looms over her and she’s encased in darkness, and can’t move beyond this moment.

Shredder drops Chikara carelessly and doesn’t even give him a glance, instead turning to Lila, still frozen with terror. He doesn’t say anything, just starts walking towards her, and for the love of whatever’s in the sky Lila can’t will her body to move, to get out of his way, to run, to do anything. She can barely see out of the blurriness of her tears, and it’s only when Shredder’s directly in front of her does the adrenaline kick in. Shooting up like a firework, she barely evades Shredder grabbing for her, and ducks under his arm. Her foot catches on one of the many candles on the floor, and she hears a tink noise before she smells the smoke.

“Get back here!” Shredder roars, and she feels his hand at the end of her long hair, almost grabbing it, but she’s able to outrun him. Once she’s at the door, she looks back only once, and Shredder is gone. She can’t see him, and she can only see the outline of Chikara/Jeremy on the floor and in the flames before they engulf the building. Knowing she can’t stay anymore, she blinks, tears falling down her face, and runs out into the night. She doesn’t intend to stop running until there’s too bright lights to her side and she throws a glance and a car’s about to hit her and her body freezes, and she throws up her arms to block the light and as a futile, self preservation instinct as she hears the screech of tires.

“Lila?” A very familiar voice says her name. A very familiar, Brooklyn-accented voice. Lowering her arms, she sees him, she sees Raphael hanging out of the Battle-Shell, and she’s so happy. She’s so freaking happy that her eyes fill with a different kind of tear and she runs to him.

“Raph!” Lila exclaims, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms tightly around him. Raph’s bigger, stronger than she is, but she throws herself at him with such force that it takes him off balance for a second until he adjusts to her and hugs her back, securely. 

“Lila? You okay?” Mikey’s voice asks, and she looks up to see her orange-banded friend Michelangelo out of the Battle-Shell behind his older brother.

“Mikey!” She exclaims, breaking from Raph and running to him. Unlike Raph, he has time to prepare for Lila throwing herself at him. He catches her easily and swings her around, hugging her tightly.

“Careful with her, Mikey, she’s been through a lot,” Donnie chides his younger brother lightly as he comes out of the Battle-Shell in the back. 

“Donnie!” Lila exclaims, and Donnie opens his arms to get his hug, too. She runs into them and he holds her tightly, and she never wants to let go, so she rests her head on his shoulder. 

“Is Lila okay?” Leo’s voice calls as he comes around to where his younger brothers and friend are, swords drawn. Lila lifts her head off Donnie’s shoulder and smiles at him.

“Leo!” She exclaims, running out of Donnie’s arms and into Leo’s, who sheathes his swords in time to catch her and hold her securely in his arms. Like Donnie, she rests her head on Leo’s shoulder, and he rests his hand on her head.

“Are you okay, Lila?” he asks, but before she can answer, Donnie interrupts them.

“Everyone! Get in the Battle-Shell! This building’s going to explode!” 

“What?!” Raph yells, but nonetheless everyone follows his order and runs into the Battle-Shell. Donnie comes by, scoops Lila off the ground and runs in, the door shutting behind them as Mikey floors the accelerator. They’re a block away when the building explodes, and it rattles the Shell and everyone inside, but everyone is in one piece. 

“Are you okay, Lila?” Leo asks from the passenger seat, looking back at his younger brothers and young friend. Lila nods and goes to answer, but Raph notices something.

“What happened to your face?” He demands, taking her chin into his hands, careful of the prominent bruise on the right side of her jaw. Donnie takes a look at it and winces.

“That looks pretty bad,” the purple-banded turtle says, removing his red-banded brother’s hand and examining his best friend’s face. 

“What’s wrong with her?!” Mikey asks, looking back from the driver’s seat, almost causing him to run into a semi-truck.

“Darn it, pull over, Mikey!” Leo orders, but Lila cuts him off with “No, keep driving Mikey! I’m fine!”

“You’re not fine!” Raph insists.

“Yes, I am!” Lila snaps back, but more out of worry for the mental health of her friends over true irritability. “Listen, there’s no need for everything to stop. For all you know, there still could be Foot ninja after us. Let’s get back to the lair, and I promise once we’re there, I will tell you everything okay?” 

“Fine,” Donnie acqueises, and Mikey picks up speed again, driving slightly faster than before. Lila just hopes he’s not breaking the speed laws too badly. Meanwhile, Raph is pacing around like a caged animal. “Raph, calm down.” 

“I can’t calm down!” Raph snaps, “our friend got kidnapped and assaulted-”

Lila goes up to him slowly and wraps her arms around him, stopping his pacing. “It’s okay, Raph, it’s okay,” she says softly, holding him close and resting her chin on his shoulder. She knows he’s angry about what happened to her, and she’s grateful he cares about her so much, but nobody’s going to be helped by Raph’s rage right now.

Slowly, Raph calms down, and he hesitantly wraps his arms around Lila’s waist, as if he’s afraid of breaking her. Lila hums encouragingly and hugs him, and he finally relaxes enough to hug her back, closing his eyes. Behind them, Leo’s shocked, Donnie is dumbfounded, and Mikey’s speechless, but they suppose they shouldn’t be surprised. Raph has always been very gentle with Lila and she’s capable of calming down his rage when it’s needed to. 

Lila knows Raph’s just very upset, and everyone in the Battle-Shell is too. Every turtle is around her age (and they’re all just a little older than she is), and she’s realized that each of the four has his own form of emotional immaturity. Leo buries his feelings in himself, blaming himself for situations out of his control and not being able to protect everyone he loves. Raph’s feelings are embedded in his anger, which is the easiest way for him to get his feelings out, as destructive as that anger can be (and is, more often than not). Donnie, for as gentle and peaceful as he is, will deal with his feelings by working on whatever he can get his hand on and at times finding work when there’s not. Surprisingly, Mikey is the most in touch with his feelings, and he expresses them the easiest of the four. (Though, he once confided to her that he believes it’s due to being the baby of the family.) But he’s got his emotional immaturity, too, which manifests in his pranks. In a way, that’s his contribution to his family, as if he knows that emotions will be spilled from the victims of his pranks. (To Lila’s surprise, Mikey might just be the most emotionally mature of his family.) It isn’t easy being them. Being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. 

Later, Lila will take care of them all. Raph’s just first. She’ll spend hours calming his rage and convincing him not to go after every member of the Foot Clan for what their leader did, which will open another can of highly explosive worms (oh, how fun will that be for her). She’ll assure Leo none of what happened was his fault and that he couldn’t have protected her because she didn’t tell him about Jeremy’s crush on her that turned to stalking and direct threats to her life and well-being (and for his sake, she’ll trim down some of the content of what happened). She’ll be by Donnie’s side for hours making sure he takes breaks and gets proper meals, and so he doesn’t overwork himself trying to keep something like this from happening to her or any of them ever again, and no, it doesn’t matter that he’s the brains, it’ll be okay, and it’s not his responsibility to do all of this. Finally, she’ll have to have a sleepover with Mikey, because though he’s the best at realizing everything is fine, he needs just as much reassurance as his brothers do, and he wants to keep her safe and happy as much as she wants it for him. So she’ll spend a night and not get a wink of sleep due to playing video games, watching movies, reading comic books, drinking soda and eating snacks, and eventually the three older turtles will join in too. Raph will come first, complaining they disrupted his sleep, but once he sees they’re playing Space Invaders, will grab a controller and “show them how it’s done”. Then Leo will come, saying that he’s just checking on them, but he’ll “notice” one of their snack bowls is “empty” or half-full and do a snack run for them, coming back with extras. Donnie will show up last, claiming all the noise is distracting him from his work, but he’ll see the movie, say that he’s never seen this one before, and will sit down next to Lila when she offers him some of her food. All of them will try to stay up all night, but Donnie will be asleep halfway through the second film, exhausted from all of his (over)working. Leo will quickly follow suit, and Raph’s asleep by the end of the third film, saying he’s just “resting his eyes” (despite what his snores say). Mikey tries his best to stay up, admitting he doesn’t want Lila to be lonely, and Lila will promise him that she’s not, and he’ll fall asleep with a smile of relief on his face. Lila will go to shut off the movie so her friends can sleep peacefully, but she’ll realize that she’s trapped in the middle of the turtle pile on the floor. Donnie will have his arm securely around her shoulders, Mikey doing the same as he leans his head on her stomach. Leo will rest his head on her arm and cuddle up to Mikey, and Raph will hold her hand behind Donnie (though in the morning, he’ll deny it, saying he just fell asleep like that). And she’ll feel safe, warm and protected, and she’ll fall asleep comfortably. No nightmares, at least for one night.

And that’s going to be okay.

It's okay now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of it! I rediscovered one of my favorite childhood cartoons, and this popped into my brain. IF you read, thank you so much, and I hope your favorite episode of your favorite tv show comes on tomorrow. If you didn't, I hope you eat your favorite food. If you're a nice guy who mimics Chikara/Jeremy Hunter's behavior albeit without superpowers, then go fuck yourself! Have fun, kids!


End file.
